The Stanley Sadie Handel Prize for 2010 has been awarded to the Glossa recording of the cantata, Clori, Tirsi e Fileno with singers Roberta Invernizzi, Yetzabel Arias Fernández, Romina Basso with La Risonanza directed by Fabio Bonizzoni. “La Risonanza produces a delightful performance that presents all of the strengths and virtues we have come to associate with their recent explorations of Handel’s music,” commented the jury. “The orchestral playing is stylish, thoughtful and eloquent; the violin and lute obbligati are enchanting, and Bonizzoni’s well-paced direction from the harpsichord is exemplary. The three singers chosen for the parts of Clori, Tirsi and Fileno are superbly matched in taste and technical proficiency, but are also ideally different to enable clear and beguiling characterisation.”

The jury also commended the runners-up: the opera Faramondo conducted by Diego Fasolis (Virgin Classics), Zefiro’s recording of the Music for the Royal Fireworks (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi), and a recital of duets and arias performed by Sandrine Piau, Sara Mingardo and Concerto Italiano (Naïve).

The Stanley Sadie Handel Prize was re-named in 2005 in memory of the late Handel scholar, editor of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Gramophone contributor, and draws on the services of an international jury (representing Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the UK) comprising producers, scholars, musicologists and critics. The rules stipulate that “The winner must satisfy tough criteria: it needs to combine fine interpretive quality with a penetrating or valuable insight into Handel’s genius. Thus this Prize is an indication of a recording’s quality and the significance of its contribution to Handelian knowledge".