Join us in the staging of Handel’s most magical opera! Application is now open for all roles. You will work with a baroque orchestra and the best professionals in the field, including a star-contralto Sonia Prina. Sing under the baton of Enrique Gomez-Cabrero Fernandez and work with Szymon Komarnicki as the stage director. Together with Tarnogórskie Centrum Kultury we invite you to apply and be part of this unforgettable project.
Alcina
Composed in 1735 for Handel’s first season at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (now Royal Opera House), Alcina is a magical tale of love and deception. It tells the story of Alcina, a beautiful sorceress who rules over her island and is capable of turning men (whom she initially seduces) into animals, plants and stones. One day, a heroic knight lands on the island. Will he share the fate of the others?…
The libretto of Alcina is based on a much older Italian epic poem Orlando Furioso (lit. “The Frenzy of Orlando”) by Ludovico Arosto. This 15th century chivalric romance contains a great deal of fantasy, including a trip to the Moon and characters such as sorcerers and fantastic creatures: a sea monster and a hippogrif (a flying horse).
Orlando Furioso has been hugely influential in European culture, inspiring painters (Delacroix, Ingres), writers and poets (Lope de Vega, Spenser, de la Fontaine, Shakespeare). Musically, it became the basis for many operas, including those by Francesca Caccini, Antonio Vivaldi and Jean Philippe Rameau.
Alcina proved a great success when it premiered in 1735, running for the total of 18 performances. It is still considered one of Handel’s most beautiful works. ‘Verdi Prati’, Ruggiero’s aria from the Act 2 is one of Handel’s best known arias.
Some musical sequences in Alcina were composed specifically as dances to be performed by Marie Sallé – a star dancer with whom Handel worked closely during his time at Covent Garden.