The Collegium Singers and Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Richard Sparks, present a program built around George Friederic Handel’s Dixit Dominus. The 30-minute long psalm setting is a virtuosic piece for soloists, chorus and orchestra, said Sparks. Handel wrote it in 1707 at age 22, after he had bested Alessandro Scarlatti in a keyboard competition and started his rise to fame.

“The music is very exciting,” said Sparks. “You’re able to hear the virtuosity with which Handel writes.”

Also on the program is a concerto grosso by Giuseppe Valentini, written around the same time as the Handel piece. It features four solo violins playing with the Baroque Orchestra. It’s a piece that may have influenced Handel and a good complement to Dixit Dominus, Sparks said.

While some members of the Baroque Orchestra prepare for that concert, others are preparing for the UNT Opera production of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Le devin du village. The fact that Baroque Orchestra has enough members to support two early music events in the same weekend is unique, Sparks said.

“There aren’t many other universities that could offer this opportunity,” Sparks said.

Directed by Paula Homer with Paul Leenhouts conducting the Baroque Orchestra, Le devin du village (The Cunning Man) is the tale of two lovers, each of whom suspects the other of cheating. They each visit the village soothsayer who tricks them into loving and trusting each other again, and they marry. The opera was so popular in its day that it was performed at the wedding of the future Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. It will be performed in French with English supertitles.

The Collegium Singers and Baroque Chamber Orchestra perform at 8 p.m. April 18 (Thursday) in Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. The concert will also be streamed online at www.UNTMusicLive.com. Tickets are $10 for adults; $8 for seniors, non-UNT students, children, UNT faculty, staff and retirees, and groups of 10 or more; free for UNT students with valid ID. UNT student tickets must be picked up in person at the Murchison Box Office.

UNT Opera and the Baroque Orchestra present Le devin du village at 8 p.m. April 19 (Friday) with a 7:15 p.m. “In The Know” pre-performance lecture, and 3 p.m. April 21 (Sunday) with a 2:15 p.m. “In The Know” pre-performance lecture in the Lyric Theater at the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $15 general admission.

Purchase tickets online at www.theMPAC.com/tickets or by calling the Murchison Box Office at 940-369-7802.