Opera on 3

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Music: Classical: Opera

Programme presenting rare and fascinating operatic performances

Programme presenting rare and fascinating performances and vividly communicating the immediacy of the live experience

Opera on 3: Handel's Theodora

Handel's Theodora

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Handel's Theodora

A Royal Opera House production of Handel's Theodora, conducted by Harry Bicket.

Handel's dramatic tale of Christian resistance against Roman persecution, given a new production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, starring Julia Bullock in the title role.

In the 4th century AD, when Valens, the Roman governor of Antioch, issues a decree that all citizens will offer sacrifice to Venus, Theodora, as a Christian, refuses. Expecting to be put to death, she is informed instead that she has been sentenced to serve as a prostitute in the temple of Venus. Her beloved Didymus persuades her to change places with him, concealing her identity by putting on his uniform and escaping, leaving him to face the wrath of the Roman officers. She does so, but is fraught with guilt at having endangered Didymus's life in order to save her own.
  
At the Royal Opera House, Julia Bullock, Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński star in Katie Mitchell’s new interpretation of this story. In an alternative modern-day reality, Theodora, a religious fundamentalist, plots for the resistance against the Roman occupation. But when her secret plan to destroy the Roman embassy is discovered, she learns the true brutality of her oppressors.

Not heard in Covent Garden since its 1750 premiere, and sung in the original English libretto by Thomas Morell, Theodora is a tour de force for soloists and chorus alike, with ensembles, duets and arias of profound depth and beauty. This new interpretation, conducted by Baroque specialist Harry Bicket, shines a new, feminist light on the story.

Presented by Andrew McGregor, in conversation with Suzanne Aspden. 

Theodora: Julia Bullock, soprano
Irene: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Didymus: Jakub Józef Orlinski, counter-tenor
Septimus: Ed Lyon, tenor
Valens: Gyula Orendt, baritone
Marcus: Thando Mjandana, tenor
Chorus: Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conducted by Harry Bicket

Read the full synopsis at the Royal Opera House website: https://bit.ly/3sEIwOm

Image: © Camilla Greenwell, 2022

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