Premiere on 13. July 2026
Composer Georg Friedrich Händel. Libretto by an unknown author based on the libretto by Antonio Fanzaglia for the L’isola di Alcina opera by Riccardo Broschi, based on the 6th and 7th songs from the Orlando furioso epic piece by Ludovico Ariosto.
recommended for age 14 and olderDramma per musica in three acts (1735)
In Italian. With surtitles in German and English. New Production.
A secretive empire, ruled by a legendary queen – Alcina is all things at once: strong, powerful, clever and beguilingly beautiful. Again and again, she seduces strange men, who follow her call, onto her island, and again and again Alcina hopes without end to find true love. But her dream always ends in disappointment. The traces of past loves are strewn across the land – former suitors are now magically transformed and held captive in the island’s flora and fauna. But when Ruggiero lands on the island, Alcina is convinced – this is the right one! Meanwhile another “man” appears. Ruggiero’s fiancé Bradamante, disguised as her brother, Ricciardo, and searching for Ruggiero. When Alcina’s magic then also begins to gradually disappear, everything goes topsy-turvy.
“He is master of us all”, declared Joseph Haydn in 1791 speaking about Georg Friedrich Handel. And without doubt, the magic-opera Alcina is indeed one of his most masterful scores. It was his second opera after Ariodante for the rebuilt Covent Garden Theatre – and was configured for London audiences’ sensation-mongering. But of course it is not just the stage effects that make this work so special. Handel wrote colourful music and drew differentiated characters, who range clearly across and beyond the usual scope of baroque opera and its character typecasting. This is precisely where director Johanna Wehner really gets going. She sees Alcina not merely as ruler and sorceress, both rather also as human, fallible, hurt – constantly compelled to live up to a reputation. A woman that must function, however longs for true love, and is constantly injured and disappointed. And so for Wehner one question in particular is at the core of it all: How much do I have to be, to be enough?
Motive © Huanhuan Wang
