Festival Opera Brings Handel’s Magical ‘Alcina’ To Walnut Creek

WALNUT CREEK, CA — Of the 42 operas that prolific German composer George Friedrich Handel produced over his long career, one of the most frequently performed today is his 1735 masterwork "Alcina," written toward the end of his sojourn in London.

And what a complex, convoluted plot it boasts, full of disguised characters, mistaken identities and transgender romantic entanglements. Thank goodness, the music is simply magnificent. The titular character is an enchantress who lives on a magic island with her sister Morgana and who is inclined to dispose of suitors she has tired of by transforming them into wild beasts, rocks, trees or streams.

Her current flame Ruggiero is still a guy, but to pursue her, he has abandoned his fiance Bradamante, who disguises herself as her own brother to seek justice and thereby attracts the unwitting amorous attentions of Morgana. Further complications ensue.

To revel in the glorious music, check out concert versions presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society and Festival Opera at the Berkeley Festival & Exhibition in Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. The following weekend, the same conductor and roster of artists will reconvene at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek to mount two fully staged and costumed productions with all the dramatic flourishes at 7:30 p.m. June 19 and 2 p.m. June 21.

Derek Tam leads the Festival Opera Orchestra in all four performances, with soprano Nikola Printz in the title role, Courtney Miller as Ruggiero, Shawnette Sulker as the misinformed Morgana and Sara Couden as the aggrieved Bradamante.

Find tickets for all the productions, from pay what-you-can for Berkeley at berkeleyfestival.org to $20-$95 in Walnut Creek, at festivalopera.org.

By Bay City News
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