Dramma per musica in three acts
Music by Georg Friedrich Händel
Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym
Concert performance in Italian with German surtitles

La Lira di Orfeo
Conductor: Raffaele Pe

In January 1725, Rodelinda premiered at the King’s Theatre in London to a rapturous reception. The work was frequently revived during his lifetime, and it was with a performance of Rodelinda at the first Handel festival in Göttingen in 1920 that the modern-day Handel renaissance began. The plot centres on a strong woman who will stick at nothing to rescue her husband – a genuine prima donna role, now played in Vienna by Karina Gauvin. Raffaele Pe, who can also be heard this season in Gasparini’s Ambleto, not only plays the male lead here, but also takes on the role of conductor, leading his ensemble, La Lira di Orfeo.