Alcina

Music by George Frideric Handel

BREAKING THE SPELL

Tales of supernatural spells and bewitching enchantresses have captured the imagination of audiences from fairy tales to cinema. Opera is no exception, and no one has done it better than Handel.

Here, the composer takes us on a magical journey to an island ruled by sister sorceresses Morgana and Alcina, who has a particularly nasty penchant for discarding old lovers—until…  

Based on Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso (as were the plots for his operas Orlando and Ariodante), Handel composed Alcina in 1735, for his first season at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London. Alcina was Handel’s last great London success then fell into obscurity; it was happily revived in the twentieth century.

This production of Alcina is made possible by The Georgina Joshi Handelian Series, a vision of Georgina Joshi (M.M., '06).