The 18th century composer George Frideric Handel is probably best known for his meditation on the life of Jesus Christ, the oratorio “Messiah.”

This weekend, however, Upper Valley Baroque will perform a lesser-known work by Handel: “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.” The piece marks a transition in his career, one that led to “Messiah” just a year later, in 1741.

“He was trying to understand what the public would be interested in hearing and could sort of inspire his own creativity,” said Upper Valley Baroque’s Artistic Director Filippo Ciabatti.

Handel sprang to mind while Ciabatti was looking for an “important, big piece” to put a bow on the season.

This work is unusual, however, because it lacks a clear storyline. Instead, it takes the form of a conversation among three poems: “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso” by John Milton, and “Il Moderato” by Charles Jennens, one of Handel’s librettists. The two figures in Milton’s poems are both preoccupied with the natural world, but one has an optimistic affect, while the other is melancholic and contemplative. They volley back and forth for much of the piece until the temperate voice of “Il Moderato” enters.

When Handel composed the piece he’d already built a reputation for his Italian operas, but a shift in the public’s taste forced him to pivot. “L’Allegro” is an early experimentation with the English oratorio.

The music brings the poems’ descriptions of nature to life. In the aria “Sweet Bird,” for example, a flute and soprano recreate the delicate melodies of birdsong.

In addition to the choir and orchestra, four soloists will perform in the upcoming concerts at Randolph’s Chandler Center for the Arts and Lebanon Opera House. Among them is the renowned soprano Amanda Forsythe, who sang the part of Euridice in the Grammy-award winning recording of “La Descente d’Orphee aux enfers” with the Boston Early Music Festival.

Ciabatti, who met Forsythe when he was working at Boston Baroque, was thrilled to learn she could participate in the concert.

“It’s really a repertoire that is very, very, very compatible with her voice, so I thought she was perfect to sing this role,” he said.

The concert might be particularly appealing to those who want to learn more about Handel’s evolution as an artist.

“If you love ‘Messiah,’ you’ll love this piece,” he said.

Upper Valley Baroque will perform “L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 6 at the Lebanon Opera House. For tickets ($25-$50) and more information, visit uppervalleybaroque.org.

Looking ahead

Next week, the HanUnder Art Festival, a three day extravaganza curated by students at Dartmouth, will offer more opportunities to sample live music, among other creative offerings.

The festival was launched last year by the Hop Fellows, a group of 21 students who receive training in arts management and curation from mentors at Dartmouth’s Hopkins Center for the Arts. While there are plenty of opportunities to get involved with the arts on campus, the festival allows students, even those who aren’t studying art, to reach a wider audience.

“HanUnder provides students with an opportunity to present their art with no boundaries and in their own voice, in their own way,” said Ivie Aiwuyo, a junior and one of the Hop Fellows.

The festival has expanded since last year, when exhibitions and performances took place exclusively at Sawtooth Kitchen, Bar and Stage on Allen Street. This year, over 25 artists, who were picked from some 100 submissions, will display work across campus, a development that Aiwuyo hopes will encourage more people outside of Dartmouth to visit the festival.

Film screenings and group exhibitions will be held at the Black Family Visual Arts Center and the Blunt Alumni Center across from the Dartmouth Green, while Sawtooth will continue to host live music next Thursday and Friday nights.

One of the bands is Afro-Ensemble, an eight-person collective whose music draws on its members’ home countries of Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Somaliland.

Dartmouth senior Tanaka Chikati helped found the group in 2022. Hailing from Zimbabwe, Chikati plays the mbira, a traditional instrument made from metal tines attached to a piece of wood that produces a lilting chime when played. Chikati learned the mbira in elementary school, and the instrument is often used by the Shona people to communicate with ancestors in communal ceremonies.

“It symbolizes a piece of home for me,” said Chikati, who released her first EP “Midzi” in 2023 under the stage name SunniChi.

Afro-Ensemble has played at other campus events, but Chikati is excited to participate in a festival designed to help people “get a sense of different types of music,” especially after COVID-19 when “people were holding back. They weren’t really feeling free to express themselves with other people.”

The full lineup will be released on the festival’s Instagram @hanunderartfestival. Admission is free, but visitors are encouraged to register online at hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.

Cheerful chamber music from Classicopia

Starting this Thursday, Classicopia, now in its 25th season, will perform a series of playful songs for the oboe, bassoon and piano in their concert “Blowin’ in the Winds.”

“Part of the mission of Classicopia is to sort of not take classical music so seriously, to show that there’s a real fun and exciting side to it,” said Artistic Director Daniel Weiser. “But there is something about the oboe and the bassoon that have a kind of humor to them. They’re very kind of human instruments.”

Weiser will play piano, while Margaret Herlehy and Janet Polk will return to Classicopia on oboe and bassoon. They’ll play pieces by 19th century French composers Marie de Grandval and Francis Poulenc, among others.

Performances will take place at Old South Church in Windsor and First Congregational Church in Lebanon. Two more performances will be held in a more intimate setting: the homes of White River Junction resident Andrew Bauman and Kristie and Douglas Doll, who live in Contoocook, N.H.

“It’s the way chamber music was meant to be played: in a chamber,” Weiser said.

The concert is also celebration of Classicopia’s co-founder Marcia Colligan, who died in January at 93, and whose enthusiastic spirit is mirrored in the jaunty sounds of the classical lineup.

“She’s watching over all these concerts,” Weiser said.

Classicopia will perform “Blowin’ in the Winds” on Thursday, April 3, through Saturday, April 5. For tickets ($18-$40) and more information, visit classicopia.org.

Marion Umpleby can be reached at mumpleby@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.