Alcina

The Rome Opera House’s program features Georg Friedrich Händel’s masterpiece Alcina, which, 290 years after its world premiere, is being performed for the first time at the Costanzi.

Handel's opera, with an anonymous libretto inspired by the libretto of the opera L’isola di Alcina (The island of Alcina) by Riccardo Broschi, is a musical drama in three acts, which debuted in 1735 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London. It was an immediate success, especially thanks to the subject it was inspired by, that is, a part of Ariosto's Orlando furioso - of which the great German composer had already set the Ariodante and Orlando to music - and to the many magic scenes which required various machinery and stage equipment.

The plot features the sorceress Alcina, who, like the sorceress Circe, lures men to her enchanted island and transforms them into rocks, streams, trees and animals. Among her victims is also the paladin Ruggiero who at a certain point is joined on the island by his fiancée, Bradamante, who hides under the identity of her brother Ricciardo, together with his confidant Melisso. But, against all odds, the powerful sorceress falls in love with Bradamante-Ricciardo.

The protagonists are the soprano Mariangela Sicilia, and the countertenor Carlo Vistoli, both winners of the 2024 Abbiati Prize, who return together on the stage of the Fondazione Capitolina, interpreting Alcina and Ruggiero. The new production, created in collaboration with De Nationale Opera of Amsterdam, is entrusted to Pierre Audi for the direction, while Rinaldo Alessandrini takes the podium, returning once again to the Costanzi to interpret a baroque opera. Orchestra and Chorus of the Rome Opera House.

Photo: turismoroma official site