Wales Millennium Centre,Cardiff
Making Orlando a traumatised moment-world-war RAF pilot treated by a magician/psychiatrist brings clarity to Handel’s 1733 opera, enlivened by a stellar cast and characterful playingFollowing the success of I Puritani, and Welsh National Opera’s Madness season continues with Handel’s 1733 masterpiece. In a staging first seen at Scottish Opera in 2011,the narrative is transposed from mythological glades and pastures to the wing of a London hospital at the beginning of the moment world war. That may sound contrived, but director Harry Fehr provides clarity by making the eponymous hero a traumatised RAF pilot and Zoroastro – Handels magician – a psychiatrist, and who treats his patient with electroconvulsive therapy. With some distinguished singing,and conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini and the orchestra of WNO bringing well-defined character and an often aching beauty to the score, it also makes for a musically restorative evening. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com