Going for Baroque

Major orchestras don't play a lot of Baroque music these days, but don't tell that to Harry Bicket. Mr. Bicket, most recently of the Los Angeles Opera, has made his career conducting mainly Baroque operas in leading opera houses, from Munich to Los Angeles. Metropolitan Opera snagged him for Handel's "Rodelinda" two years ago, and he has also conducted at the New York City Opera. Now Mr. Bicket, who just finished conducted Monteverdi's "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" in Los Angeles, is preparing to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in its annual performance of Handel's holiday favorite, "Messiah," at Riverside Church.

As recently as the 1980s, Mr. Bicket recalled last week by telephone from Los Angeles, "people didn't talk much about Handel's operas — they talked about the concerti grossi or the oratorios. But opera companies are always looking for new pieces, and Baroque operas have a lot going for them, now that we know they're not unstageable."

By entrusting "Messiah" to Mr. Bicket, the orchestra turns to a conductor familiar to audiences as the leading Baroque conductor in the world's opera houses. Baroque gurus of the previous generation like John Eliot Gardiner and William Christie came to prominence by leading their own ensembles and producing lots of recordings. But the simultaneous decline in the record business and surge in popularity of Baroque opera pointed Mr. Bicket in a different direction.

These days, Mr. Bicket wins special praise for his rapport with singers. "I like singers — not all conductors find them fun or rewarding," he said. The mezzo Susan Graham, his Poppea in Los Angeles, calls him a "regular guy with an extraordinary knowledge and instinct for early music. His easy demeanor and generous nature help unlock the thought process for those of us who aren't early music specialists."

"Singers do want to sing in — I hate to use the term — an ‘historically informed' way," Mr. Bicket said. And more mainstream singers want to participate. Renée Fleming, with whom he collaborated in a recording of Handel arias, "was really interested in how trills went and what the right color should be and how to match it.

"Handel's singers were like the rock stars of the day — everybody wanted to know whom they were sleeping with and their other shenanigans. If the music is sung by only early music specialists, it stays in a box. Our singers for ‘Messiah' are a good mix. Dominique Labelle and Neal Davies are known for their work in early music, while Stephanie Blythe and Bruce Ford are wonderful artists who aren't so much into that."

Working with singers is only half the job, since opera orchestras must also be attuned to the niceties of Baroque practice. "If I have a totally period orchestra, the job is easier because the sound is there automatically. At the Met they can have a rehearsal of ‘Lohengrin' in the morning and one of ‘Julius Caesar' in the afternoon. But I do enjoy modern orchestras in this music."

Mr. Bicket tries to ease musicians into the Baroque style without forcing them to deviate too much from the techniques to which they're accustomed. "If I started out by telling the players not to use vibrato, that would be a quick way to alienate them," he explained. But he does try for Baroque bowing techniques. "The bow should be a tool to facilitate what's happening. [The Baroque composer and theorist Michael] Praetorius compared the violin to the body and the bow to the soul."

The 45-year-old conductor, who grew up on the West Coast of Scotland, has a background that helps explain his success in the opera house. "I started at the Royal Conservatory of Music as a pianist, having always played the organ." Later he went to Christ Church Cathedral as a scholarship student. "I worked as a keyboard jobber with groups like the English Concert and Academy of Ancient Music back when they were rerecording everything on period instruments."

Mr. Bicket also worked as a répétiteur and chorus master at the English National Opera — the kind of training, many think, that is invaluable for a budding conductor. "It was a baptism by fire," he said."On my first day, I conducted the stage band in a performance conducted by Charles Mackerras." He counts Mark Elder, then the ENO's music director, as a "huge influence" in his dealing with orchestras.

His work has paid off. Mr. Bicket was recently named music director of the English Concert, a group long led by Trevor Pinnock."I can finally do my own programming — build a relationship with an ensemble instead of walking into a rehearsal and facing 100 strangers." And in addition to "Julius Cesar" at the Met in April, two operas by composers he especially admires are on his American calendar for the summer: The Gluck rarity "Ile de Merlin" for Charleston's Spoleto USA and "Platée" by Rameau — "another great unsung hero of the period" — for Santa Fe. Still, he said, thanks to the English Concert,"it will be a relief not to be on the road so much."