An imagined evening at the Carlisle House in 1771, where Teresa Imer-Cornelys would have entertained the London elite with her opulent soirées and music performances. During the 12 years from 1760 to 1772 that Madam Cornelys organized her masquerades, chamber music evenings and, finally, entire opera performances, some of the greatest composers and musicians of England and Europe at the time met under her roof. This is where the seed to the famous Bach-Abel prescription concerts was planted, a dynamic powerhouse duo of composer-performers that this program aims to explore.

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Conceived for soprano, fortepiano and viola da gamba, the program presents original pieces and arrangements of music by J.C. Bach, Abel, Gluck and Storace, weaving through the life of Teresa Imer-Cornelys through opera arias, Scottish songs and sonatas written by composers she knew and worked with during her turbulent life as singer, opera director and one of the leading patrons of the arts of her time.