Cincinnati Opera and 90.9 WGUC present a special encore presentation of Hallelujah Handel. Hosted by Cincinnati Opera’s Evans Mirageas, this four-part series explores the life and work of George Frideric Handel, the first truly internationally successful composer, from his apprentice days in Rome to his creation of the phenomenon Messiah. Listen on 90.9 FM or wguc.org/listen Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. from November 30 through December 21.

Part I: Handel in Italy

Handel’s genius did not simply appear out of nowhere. His most productive apprentice years as a composer were spent in Rome, an incredible hotbed of creativity at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. Handel became the protégé of several powerful Romans—many of them Cardinals of the Church—and perfected his amazing ability to write for voices in Rome. Mirageas will share some of Handel’s earliest sacred, dramatic, and instrumental works, written in the white heat of youthful discovery—all of this preparatory work for his “assault” on London.