Handel’s ravishingly beautiful Ode for St. Cecilia’s Dayis an inspired setting of an unparalleled poem by England’s first named Poet Laureate, John Dryden. A tribute to the divine power of music and harmony, a sequence of arias sung by Nola Richardson and Steven Soph will entrance you. Handel’s exquisite music and Dryden’s incomparable poetry extol the magical beauty of instruments, including violins, flutes, trumpets, and organ, as their sounds reach into the heavens. Also on the program, a quartet of violinists will open the concert with a testament to collegial musical partnership. And Bach’s third Orchestral Suite (with the famous “Air on the G String”) will be performed in its rarely heard original orchestration, bringing the lovely and lilting dances to life with buoyant lightness.