The culmination of the Sarasota Choral Festival will present Alexander’s Feast, an oratorio with music by George Frederic Handel set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton. Handel composed the music in January 1736, and the work received its premiere at the Covent Garden Theatre, London, on February 19, 1736. A celebratory banquet is the scene after Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia. Alexander, with his mistress Thaïs at his side, is charmed by the musician Timotheus, who by the sheer power of music arouses a wide range of emotions from charmed to intoxicated, saddened and love-sick, to rage and fury. Fortunately, St Cecilia, the patron saint of music, is on hand at the end to set it all straight.