Glyndebourne: George Frideric Handel: Alcina

Director Francesco Micheli brings style and sumptuous excess to Glyndebourne's staging of Handel's Alcina.

Director Francesco Micheli brings style and sumptuous excess to Glyndebourne’s first-ever staging of Handel's Alcina, conducted by Jonathan Cohen.

Alcina, a powerful sorceress, rules an enchanted island where her discarded lovers are transformed into trees, rocks, and animals. When she falls for the knight Ruggiero, she hopes love might break her curse. But when he abandons her, will she choose vengeance, or can love truly transform her?

Handel’s final opera blends magic with a profound exploration of love, illusion, and self-destruction. Alcina is both witch and woman, villain and victim, making her one of Handel's most complex heroines.

The programme is now available, for further information and more Glyndebourne Festival productions, please contact the EuroArts team.

Genre Opera
Recording location Glyndebourne Festival
Production year 2022
Duration 178'
Video format 4K/UHD
Production Company Maestro Broadcasting, Glyndebourne Festival
TV Director Jonathan Haswell
Stage Director Francesco Micheli
Sets Edoardo Sanchi
Costumes Alessio Rosati
Choreography by Mike Ashcroft
Orchestra / Band Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Conductor Jonathan Cohen
Soloist Beth Taylor (Bradamante), Alastair Miles (Melisso), Soraya Mafi (Morgana), Jane Archibald (Alcina), Rowan Pierce (Oberto), Samantha Hankey (Ruggiero), Stuart Jackson (Oronte), James Cleverton (Astolfo)
English title of music work George Frideric Handel: Alcina
Distribution TV EuroArts Music International
Libretto Libretto anonymous after Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando furioso arranged by Antonio Marchi