Imeneo
All production photos by Craig Fuller (see below for more)
Production poster
Imeneo, March 2026
Cambridge Handel Opera Company, Festival Theatre, Cambridge Buddhist Centre
A rare staging of Handel’s Imeneo, his penultimate Italian Opera.
*** To find out more, read the programme notes here ***
Direction: Guido Martin-Brandis; Set and Costume Design: Margaret Steinbach; Lighting Design: Trui Malten, Production Photographer: Craig Fuller.
Tirinto - Bethany Horak Hallett
Imeneo - Tim Nelson
Rosmene - Ellie Neate
Argenio - Trevor Bowes
Clomiri - Lisa Dafydd
Reviews
The Guardian - Alexandra Coghlan
★★★★
Handel in mischievous mood handled with wit and care
“It’s exhilarating, often meta-theatrical stuff, and director Guido Martin-Brandis and the Cambridge Handel Opera Company capture all its knowing, self-referential charm in this delightful staging.
With music director Julian Perkins conducting from the harpsichord – on stage along with his band – Martin-Brandis invites the musicians into the action. Characters make asides to them (and a double bass comments in its turn), when they’re not busy breaking the fourth wall with the help of Trui Malten’s articulate lighting design. A chair, a couple of gilded pictures frames and a pair of hats are the only props – used with endless invention, wit and care by a cast who balance Handel’s precise cocktail of artifice and sincerity beautifully.
…a superb cast: Neate’s Rosmene vibrant, growing in power through the immense final scene; Dafydd captivating and sweetly sung as the determined Clomiri. Horak-Hallett’s glossy mezzo was evenly matched with rival Nelson’s handsome baritone, leaving Bowes to turn the patriarch into an irrepressible comic turn. Handel’s operatic afterthought scrubs up well as the main event.”
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The Cambridge Independent
“This is a flawless production with a starry cast
The production of a talented body of stage and design technicians offering a rare and not-to-be missed opportunity to experience Handel’s writing at his most mature.”
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The Stage
★★★★
Production photos
Low Ham Mosaic, courtesy of Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and South West Heritage Trust