Early Music Today

Hannah French finds out about a Scottish fiddler - Charles Macklean - who's also thought to have been Handel's organist, and played in the premiere of Messiah in Dublin in 1742.

Hannah also talks to Radio 3's current New Generation Baroque Ensemble - The Bellot Ensemble - ahead of their upcoming tour, performing an English translation of Charpentier's opera David & Jonathan. And she hears frrom viola player Johannes Pramsohler about his new album of "Berlin" concertos by composers such as Carl Heinrich Hermann Benda, Ignaz Mara, Markus Heinrich Grauel and Johann Gottlieb Graun.

There's news from three upcoming early music festivals in Banbury, Brighton and Salisbury, and a wealth of other new recordings to explore, including recent releases of Vivaldi from La Serenissima, Machaut from Chanticleer and Manchicourt from Gli Angeli Genève.

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play The Early Music Show".