I neglected to mention hearing Les Violons du Roy & La Chapelle de Québec chorus do Handel's Messiah. It really is a baroque opera of the whole of Christianity: prophecy, nativity, passion, ressurection, all the way up to last judgement.
David Daniels warbled the high-high-high up parts, Joshua Hopkins thundered the bass-baratone parts, and Rosemary Joshua dramatized parts in between. I could listen to Handel year round.