Continuo Connect — Concert // Liberata Collective: Handel - Orlando

A staged performance of this opera with full costumes and baroque gesture.

Orlando is one of Handel’s most intense and experimental operas. A masterpiece, it premiered at the King’s Theatre in London in 1722 but ran for only 10 performances before falling into obscurity until the late 20th century (notably performed by the late James Bowman). The plot centres on the love square between the knight Orlando, Princess Angelica, Prince Medoro and the shepherdess Dorinda, and leads to madness - even violence. Can the all-seeing sorcerer Zoroastro step in before it’s too late? In this performance, the singers use expressive physical movement in the style that Handel’s own singers would have known.

‘In a staging devised collectively (again in line with Baroque-era practices) by the singers themselves, any preconceptions of park-and-bark or overblown pantomime acting are put swiftly to bed.’ Bachtrack

Liberata Collective
Christian Joel - Orlando
Olivia Doutney - Angelica
Susanna MacRae - Dorinda
Joanna Harries - Medoro
Jolyon Loy - Zoroastro

Petra Hajduchova - Music Director
Simone Pirri - Violin I
Sophie Simpson - Violin II
Jordan Sian - Viola
Nathan Giorgetti - Cello
Oonagh Lee - Oboe/Recorders I
Joel Raymond - Oboe/Recorders II

Sponsored by James & Jane Loudon

Including a 1-hour interval when supper will be available in the Festival Marquee. For more information on how to book your meal, click here.