Orlando HWV 31 (premiere)

Enjoy the “musically richest of all Handel operas” (Winton Dean) in this new production of Orlando. This Zauberoper, or “magic opera”, the libretto of which is based on Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso, is a masterpiece by the Halle-born composer which brings Orlando’s madness of love to the stage with dramatic effect. The original performance was held on January 27, 1733, in the presence of the queen, in the King’s Theatre in London. It was with Handel’s setting of the story that the now traditional Handel Festival in Halle began back in 1922.