The ensemble specialised in Baroque music and classicism, Les Arts Florissants, will be performing an opera version of one of the masterpieces by Georg Friedrich Händel on 21 October at the Teatro Real.
The opera, inspired by an English monarch making it unique in the composer’s catalogue, is conducted by the Scottish conductor, Paul Agnew, and features the renowned counter-tenor, Jakub Józef Orlinski in the title role. The show will be performed in Italian with English and Spanish subtitles.
Set within the context of the Third Crusade, the opera features Richard the Lionheart arriving on the island of Cyprus under a false identity. The English king poses as an ambassador in order to rescue his fiancée, Costanza, who he has never seen and who is being held captive by Isacio, the island’s tyrannical ruler, after surviving a shipwreck. From that point on, Händel weaves a web of deceit, passion and power struggles.
The dramatic tension intensifies when Isacio tries to outwit Richard by sending his own daughter, Pulcheria, to pose as Costanza. The plot thickens with the intervention of Oronte, Pulcheria’s fiancé, who uncovers the scheme and decides to thwart it before the deception goes too far.
In the end, Ricardo launches the final military assault on Cyprus and succeeds in defeating Isacio and restoring order to the island. Following the tyrant’s downfall, Pulcheria and Oronte are named as the new rulers, while Richard is finally united with Costanza. With this new production, the Teatro Real revives a score that has rarely been seen on contemporary stages and offers the audience the opportunity to rediscover an essential piece from the Baroque repertoire.
Artistic File:
- Musical Conductor - Paul Agnew
- Orchestra - Les Arts Florissants Choir and Orchestra
Cast:
- Richard - Jakub Józef Orlinski
- Costanza - Mélissa Petit
- Berardo - Alex Rosen
- Isacio - Andreas Wolf
- Pulcheria - Juliette Mey
- Oronte - Hugh Cutting
Programme:
- Opera in Three Acts, HWV 23
- Music by Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
- Libretto by Paolo Antonio Rolli, based on the libretto of Isacio Tiranno (1710) by Francesco Briani
- Premièred at the King’s Theatre in London on 11 November 1727
- Première at the Teatro Real
- Opera in concerto version
Language: Italian with English and Spanish subtitles
