La Calisto

Tuesday, 23 September 2008 - Friday, 10 October 2008

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Piazza, Covent Garden, WC2E 9DA

How Much: £110.00 (Highest Price) , £5.00 (Lowest Price)

An ultra-modern debut for one of the most ancient of operas, Francesco Cavalli's 1651 baroque epic La Calisto. Despite being one of the oldest coherent operas produced in Italy, this story has never graced Covent Garden before, perhaps because it is a straightforward tale of sex and seduction, with the gods abusing their powers to try and trick virgins into bed.

This production will be a calendar highlight for opera fans on the strength of the music alone, with wonderful baroque passages and arias performed by a fine cast and backed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, all under the baton of Ivor Bolton.

The production itself is an ultra-modern vision in nu-rave spandex with disco backdrops, devised by David Alden as a fitting backdrop for what is essentially a sex farce.

Sung in Italian with English surtitles
3hrs including one interval