Staged in the Italian original with Czech and English subtitles.
The mighty sorceress Alcina has created a magnificent palace on an island in beautiful countryside where she attracts lovers into her web of power. One of them is a Christian knight, Ruggiero, who succumbs to her spells and forgets about his fiancée Bradamante. However, his betrothed refuses to give him up and sets off in disguise to save him. The work of one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, Georg Friedrich Händel, has experienced a renaissance all over the world in the last few decades. This is no surprise, as there are not many composers whose work shows such exceptional melodic invention, such dramatic feeling, and, above all, such a deep understanding of what lies hidden in the depths of the human soul.
After a successful production of Purcell´s Dido and Aeneas, the conductor Václav Luks has returned to the Brno Opera, this time with the entire Collegium 1704 orchestra, which is a partner of the new production. Theatregoers can thus look forward to excellent singing performances as well as music performed on Baroque instruments. Händel wrote his thirty-fourth opera in the spring of 1735 for a new venue, The Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, which boasted expensive stage equipment that enabled spectacular theatrical effects. This suited the magical theme, which is based on part of Ariosto´s poem Orlando furioso, and allowed the inclusion of many dance numbers. However, no stage machinery could cast a shadow over Händel´s music, as Alcina contains some of the most beautiful musical pieces ever written for the human voice.
