New Chamber Opera
Handel
25 & 26 January 2019
8.00pm (the overture will be played at 7.45pm)
New College Ante-chapel
Tickets £15/£7 concessions
From https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/newchamberopera
Or on the door
Musical director – Anhad Arora
Repetiteur – Joseph Beesley
Director – Michael Burden
Xerxes – Stephanie Franklin
Arsamenes – Connor Devonish
Romilda – Emily Gibson
Atalanta – Georgie Malcolm
Amastris –
Ariodates – Chris Murphy
Elviro – Filippo Turkheimer
Handel’s comic piece Xerxes of 1738 was one of his last operas; it was also one of his least successful. The audience didn’t understand his operatic jokes and didn’t see the funny side of it; even though four of the characters start with ‘A’. Charles Burney later commented: “I have not been able to discover the author of the words of this drama: but it is one of the worst Handel ever set to Music: for besides feeble writing, there is a mixture of tragic-comedy and buffoonery in it.” The buffoonery includes a collapsing bridge, a warring (potential) couple, a foolish general, a servant disguised as a flower seller, and a monarch in love with a plane tree. We can promise you all this, and much more!
