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Handel’s Rinaldo

The English Concert

A full colour photograph of Iestyn Davies

The warrior-hero of Handel’s Rinaldo battles sorcery as well as more worldly enemies. Iestyn Davies sings the title role tonight.

No-one sings Handel with more beauty and flair than countertenor Davies, and his appearance in Handel’s Orlando was a highlight of 2016 at the Barbican. Now he’s back with The English Concert in the flamboyant drama of love, war and witchcraft with which Handel made his London debut.

Davies, though, is just one member of a virtuoso cast, supported by a period-instrument orchestra that plays Handel with a freshness and verve that make you understand why Rinaldo is sometimes considered Handel’s very finest opera. ‘Utterly heavenly’ was how The Daily Telegraph described Orlando last season, and this is Handel as it was meant to be heard: performed with insight and real vocal brilliance.

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