Bampton Classical Opera at Sinfonia Smith Square
Friday 13 September 7pm
Giuseppe Gazzaniga (1743-1818), L’isola d’Alcina
Libretto: Giovanni Bertati
English translation: Gilly French
UK modern-times première
Bampton's 31st season
Director: Jeremy Gray
Alcina - Inna Husieva (soprano)
Lesbia - Sarah Chae (soprano)
Clizia - Charlotte Badham (mezzo-soprano)
Brunoro - Monwabisi Lindi (tenor)
La Rose -Dafydd Allen (tenor)
James - Magnus Walker (tenor)
Don Lopes- Jonathan Eyers (baritone)
Baron Brikbrak - Owain Rowlands (baritone)
Conductor: Thomas Blunt
CHROMA
violin 1 (leader) Caroline Balding
violin 1 Chihiro Ono, Elspeth McLeod
violin 2 Richard Milone, Naomi Rump
viola Bridget Carey, Gareth Hamill
cello Clare O'Connell
bass Melissa Favell Wright
oboe Emma Fielding, Lydia Griffiths
horn Richard Steggall, Kate Hainsworth
Alcina’s Island is a 3-act dramma giocoso (comic opera), loosely based on the character of the sorceress Alcina from Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando furioso, which was also the source for Handel’s far more serious and literary Alcina. The successful Venetian composer Gazzaniga wrote at least 50 operas, of which L’isola d’Alcina was one of the most widely performed - his most famous score was Don Giovanni, 1787, performed by Bampton in 1997 and 2004.
In this effervescent and fast-moving opera set on a tropical desert island paradise, Bertati and Gazzaniga pit the (perhaps limited) wits of a motley collection of Europeans against the dangerous amorous snares of the insatiable Alcina. An Englishman, Frenchman, Spaniard, Italian and German all get washed up on Alcina’s magical island where the seductive and beautiful sorceress (although 800 years old) has a habit of discarding her lovers and turning them into rocks, animals or trees.
As they grapple with the romantic appeal of Alcina, the Europeans are assisted by two charming but disloyal resident nymphs, with whom they eventually escape from the island. Much fun is made of the linguistic confusions of the shipwrecked group, in contrast to the passion and discontent of the ageless but perhaps weary sorceress. The music is fluent, cheerful and graceful, propelling the story forward with restless energy.