Handel - Alcina

National Opera presents Handel's opera Alcina with an all-star cast including Emma Matthews and Rachelle Durkin and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra conducted by Handel specialist Graham Abbott.

Alcina is set on an enchanted island with not one but two sorceresses, discarded lovers who have been transformed into wild beasts, and a young woman disguising herself as a man so she can find her missing lover. Full of gorgeous music and with an all-star Australian cast, this will be a night of glorious musical delights.

With some of Handel's most well-known melodies, and a plot full of heroism, love, and witchcraft, Alcina remains as popular with audiences today as it was at its first performance in 1735.

Creatives

Composer | George Frederic Handel

Librettist | Antonio Fanzaglia

Artistic Director | Peter Coleman-Wright AO

Conductor | Graham Abbott

Orchestra | Canberra Symphony Orchestra

Principal Cast

Alcina | Emma Matthews

Morgana | Rachelle Durkin

Ruggiero | Russell Harcourt

Bradamante | Sally-Anne Russell

Oronte | John Longmuir

Melisso | Jud Arthur

Oberto | Katrina Wiseman

These performances of Alcina are dedicated to Dame Joan Sutherland OM, AC, DBE, and our new patron Richard Bonynge AC, CBE. Featuring Emma Matthews in the title role, and conducted by Handel specialist Graham Abbott, this production will bring together artists from around Australia to share in the opera that made La Stupenda.