Handel and the Rival Queens

Early Opera Company directed by harpsichordist Christian Curnyn, with Lisa Milne (soprano), Mhairi Lawson (soprano) and Christopher Benjamin (speaker). Two feisty modern-day sopranos, aided by one of the rising-star conductors in the Baroque opera world, take on the roles of the great rival divas of Handel's London operas of the 1720s, Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. So notorious was their competition that a play was written about them, and even Handel's best attempts to provide them with precisely equal parts could not prevent their animosity boiling over into a fight on stage! This programme includes arias from Handel's 'Ottone', 'Giulio Cesare', 'Admeto and 'Alessandro, and by Hasse and Porpora, as well as readings from contemporary sources.