Admin

OrpheusPDX

Stage director

Chas Rader-Shieber

Conductor

George Manahan

Lighting designer

Solomon Weisbard

Costume designer

Sydney Dufka

Set designer

Makeup artist

Sara Beukers

Hairstylist

Associate Set Designer

Alyssa Jewell

Singer

Countertenor

Katherine Whyte

Acis

Soprano

Hannah Penn

Galatea

Bass

Douglas Williams

Polyphemus

Acis and Galatea

Portland

United States

Lincoln Hall

Acis And Galatea Handel, George Frideric

Public

Joshua Dos

Approved

The great love between Acis and Galatea has been the subject of poems, paintings, operas, and statues throughout the centuries. When the jealous cyclops Polyphemus becomes crazed by his unrequited love for the sea-nymph Galatea, he kills her beloved, the mortal Acis. Devastated, Galatea transforms Acis into a river, in which she can live with him, forever united. Ultimately, in this timeless myth, love endures and overcomes all, even death. This is ultimately a great love story—infused with Handel’s “music of exquisite beauty.”

A opera in one act for 3 singers and chamber orchestra, with a running time of 90 minutes, first performed in 1708. It is a very compressed piece, full of virtuosic arias, duets, and trios – a great vocal showcase for each singer. Polyphemus’ dramatic entrance aria, “Sibilar gli angui d’Aletto” is one of Handel’s most famous and beloved arias. As with many of his Italian compositions, Handel lifted whole arias from this opera for use in later operas – Agrippina (1709), Rinaldo (1711), Il pastor fido (1712), Teseo (1713), Poro (1733), and Atalanta (1736).

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew