John Beard (c. 1716–1791) was a young tenor who came to George Frideric Handel’s attention when still a teenager. He inspired the great composer to give new focus to the tenor voice within his English oratorios. Beard was Handel’s ideal in his demands for ‘articulate utterance of the words and a just expression of the melody’ – a collaboration that climaxed in Handel’s creation of the first truly great tenor part as the hero in Samson. GRAMMY® Award-winning tenor Aaron Sheehan steps into John Beard’s shoes equipped with a voice of ‘shining quality and deep sensitivity’ (The New York Times).