Organization

Singer

Soprano

Máire Flavin

Alcina

Fflur Wyn

Morgana

Countertenor

Patrick Terry

Ruggiero

Stage director

Tim Albery

Conductor

Laurence Cummings

Lighting designer

Thomas Hase

Costume designer

Hannah Clark

Set designer

Video designer

Ian Galloway

Contralto

Mari Askvik

Bradamante

Matthew Richardson

Bass

Claire Pascoe

Melissio

Tenor

Nick Pritchard

Oronte

Opera North

Orchestra

Orchestra of Opera North

Italian

Newcastle-on-Tyne

United Kingdom

Theatre Royal

Nottingham

Salford Quays

The Lowry

Leeds

Grand Theatre

Told with some of Handel’s most delightful music, Alcina is the story of an enchantress who uses her magical powers to bewitch the young knight Ruggiero and keep him captive on her island.

On Alcina’s island nothing is as it seems. Alcina (soprano Máire Flavin) is an enchantress who transforms her discarded lovers into non-human form, and her island is a barren wasteland whose apparent beauty is maintained only by her powers of illusion. When Bradamante (mezzo-soprano Mari Askvik) arrives on the island in disguise intent on reclaiming her fiance Ruggiero (countertenor Patrick Terry), Alcina’s magic is tested to breaking point.

Directed by Tim Albery, Opera North’s new production challenges the historical conventions of women playing male roles and plays with gender fluidity. Designer Hannah Clark has stepped up to a different, environmental challenge; to make a production in which nothing that appears on stage is newly purchased. Baroque specialist Laurence Cummings conducts Handel’s wondrous music, overseeing the proceedings in this troubled (but sustainable) island paradise.

Streamed LIVE on OperaVision on 17 February 2022 at 20:00 CET and available until 17 August 2022:
https://operavision.eu/en/library/per...

0:00 Introduction
2:55 Act I and first part of Act II 
1:18:35 Intermission
1:40:32 Act II (Ah! mio cor schernito sei!) and Act III

@Opera North 

CAST

Alcina: Máire Flavin
Ruggiero: Patrick Terry
Bradamante: Mari Askvik
Morgana: Fflur Wyn
Oronte: Nick Pritchard
Melissa: Claire Pascoe

Music: Georg Friedrich Handel
Conductor: Laurence Cummings
Director: Tim Albery
Set Designer: Hannah Clark
Costume Designer: Hannah Clark
Lighting Designer: Thomas C. Hase
Video Director: Ian Galloway

Production booklet

Further reading