Alcina
Set in the magical gardens of a sorceress, Handel's
Alcina - one of his most enchanting operas - was premiered in London in 1735. Tonight's performance, direct from the Paris Opera, is conducted by one of today's foremost Baroque specialists, William Christie , with Amercian soprano Renee Fleming in the demanding - and groundbreaking - title role. The story is based on part of Ariosto's epic Orlando Furioso. The sorceress Alcina lures heroes to her enchanted garden, where she transforms them into rocks, streams, trees or wild beasts.
But her latest captive, Ruggiero, looks set to shatter her magical powers. Sung in Italian.
Les Arts Florissants, Chorus of Les
Arts Florissants, conductor
William Christie
Actl
7.25 Michael Symes considers how the moods and emotions of visitors to 18th-century landscape gardens were manipulated by the design of the buildings and the layout of the planting.
7.45 Act 2
9.05 A Necromancer in the Midst of His Own Enchantment
Natalie Wheen interviews
William Christie in his idyllic garden in the Vendees.
9.25 Act 3