Elza van den Heever Stars in Handel’s Rodelinda, Returning to the Met March 11

• van den Heever makes her Met role debut as the title heroine in Handel’s Baroque drama
•  Harry Bicket conducts a cast that also stars Sasha Cooke, Iestyn Davies, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Paul Appleby, and Adam Plachetka

 New York, NY (March 8, 2022)—Handel’s Baroque drama Rodelinda returns to the Met for the first time in more than a decade, with five performances March 11–27. Soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met role debut singing the title character in one of Handel’s most successful operas, based on the life of a seventh-century queen in the northern Italian kingdom of Lombardy. The drama centers around the claim to the throne of Milan, featuring a cast that also stars countertenor Iestyn Davies as the king Bertarido, who has been attacked and deposed by the usurper Grimoaldo, sung by tenor Paul Appleby. Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke is Bertarido’s sister Eduige, and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo sings Unulfo, Bertarido’s faithful friend, a role which he performed for his Met debut in 2011. Bass-baritone Adam Plachetka is the corrupt royal advisor Garibaldo. The revival of Stephen Wadsworth’s production, which moves the action to Handel’s own time during the 18th century and features a set that spans 135 feet wide across the Met’s stage using both side wagons, is a grand showcase for Handel’s extraordinary arias and duets. Baroque expert Harry Bicket, who also made his Met debut in 2011 conducting this production, returns to the podium.

Rodelinda Worldwide Broadcasts in Radio and Online

The March 11 and 19, 2022, performances of Rodelinda will be broadcast live on Met Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 355. The March 19, 2022, performance will also be broadcast over the Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Audio from the March 11 performance will be streamed live on the Met’s website, metopera.org.

For More Information

For further details on Rodelinda, please click here.