Nicholas McGegan to Return to Lead Philharmonia in BAROQUE GARLANDS

Nicholas McGegan, one of the world’s foremost interpreters of 18th-century repertoire, will reunite with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale to conduct a series of concerts.

McGegan returns to conduct Philharmonia Baroque’s Baroque Garlands, including the world premiere of a new edition of the 1763 version of Rameau’s La Guirlande. Baroque Garlands will be presented in early February at venues around the Bay. In late January, McGegan will also lead two special concerts for Philharmonia’s popular Jews & Music series that will highlight evocative Baroque works by Rossi and Boccherini, as well as Syrian and Moroccan songs, and more. 

McGegan will bring his infectious energy back to the podium to conduct the Philharmonia Baroque musicians, who perform on period instruments and with historically informed style, recreating the vibrant sound world of the 18th century. Baroque Garlands will be presented February 6-8, 2026, in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Stanford (see schedule below).

Baroque Garlands offers audiences the seismic choral virtuosity of George Frideric Handel’s Dixit Dominus, paired with the spritely storytelling and sumptuous orchestration of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s La Guirlande, in a thrilling tour de force performance of orchestra and voice. The concerts will feature soprano Nola Richardson and tenor Aaron Sheehan, with the Philharmonia Chorale directed by Valérie Sainte-Agathe.

Handel’s Dixit Dominus leads the program with breathtaking choral power. Created by Handel during his four-year sojourn in Italy—which coincided with the Vatican’s short-lived prohibition of opera in Rome. “This theatrical liturgical work will rouse audiences with its virtuosic and challenging layered vocal parts and soaring solos,” remarks McGegan, one of the world's foremost interpreters of Handel and winner of the Handel prize in Halle, Germany, “Of Handel’s spectacular repertoire, Dixit Dominus is a vibrant, challenging, and highly rewarding early masterpiece.”

In the evening’s second work, two enchanted garlands test the faithfulness of young lovers in Rameau’s La Guirlande, a work of lyrical beauty that dates from Rameau’s later career. Featuring lavish ornamental instrumentation and playful charm, it tells the story of a shepherd and his lady who exchange magic flowers that tellingly fade if one is unfaithful to the other. The score performed by Philharmonia Baroque will mark the premiere of a new edition of the 1763 version of the work, by Opera omnia Jean-Philippe Rameau (OOR), a major scholarly project and publication series by Bärenreiter-Verlag and Société Jean-Philippe Rameau to create critical, complete editions of all works by Jean-Philippe Rameau, providing historically accurate scores. McGegan calls the piece “a charmer about nymphs and shepherds falling in and out of love in Arcadia, comparable to the great works of Boucher and Fragonard. Baroque opulence and splendor; absolutely gorgeous and very French.” A free salon event to discuss the program with Nicholas McGegan and former Philharmonia Baroque vocal soloist Céline Ricci for ticket holders and donors will be held 2:30pm Sunday, February 1, 2026. 

Featured in Baroque Garlands is soprano Nola Richardson. She has performed with Baroque ensembles around the world in a repertoire spanning medieval to contemporary works and made her debut with Los Angeles Opera in 2025. Richardson appeared with Philharmonia Baroque in 2020 in Bach’s Coffee Cantata, in which the San Francisco Chronicle praised her performance, noting her “graceful ebullience.” She will be joined by tenor Aaron Sheehan, a Grammy award winning Baroque singer featured as Apollo and Trajan in Philharmonia Baroque’s acclaimed 2017 production of Rameau’s Le Temple de la Gloire and Jonathan in the company’s lauded 2019 concert of Handel’s Saul. Praised  as an “attractive, strong tenor,” (The New York Times) and as “lyrical and nimble” (The Seattle Times), his performance as Orphée in Boston Early Music Festival’s recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers won Best Opera Recording at the 2015 Grammy awards. Soloists from the Philharmonia Chorale to be featured will include soprano Tonia D’Amelio, soprano Victoria Fraser, countertenor Kyle Sanchez Tingzon, and bass-baritone Chung-Wai Soong.

Prior to these concerts, McGegan will lead musicians from the harpsichord in Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s Jews & Music program, Jewish Nightlife: Hebrew Poetry, Kabbalah, and Coffee, January 29–31, 2026. Spanning centuries and continents, the program traces Jewish nocturnal traditions from candlelit Kabbalistic gatherings in 16th-century Italy to vibrant Hebrew poetic performance practices in North Africa and the Middle East, and the modern revival of piyyut (Jewish liturgical poetry) in Israel. Featuring traditional Syrian and Moroccan songs alongside evocative Baroque works by Rossi and Boccherini, the program includes commentary from Jews & Music Scholar-in-Residence Francesco Spagnolo, with vocalist and percussionist Yair Harel, the Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players, and a Chorale Quintet. Audiences are invited to enjoy coffee and conversation at this event. Tickets ($40) are also available at Philharmonia.org/nightlife.

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