Amongst the highlights this year are Icarus by composer Michael Zev Gordon and librettist Stephen Plaice; Emily Howard’s Ada Sketches II; and Tom Randle‘s The Sculptor

Icarus draws on the romance of Greek myths to explore the psychological resonances of the tale of the master craftsman Daedalus and his son Icarus whilst Ada Sketches II draws on the sciences and imagines how the Analytical Engine (a forerunner of computer programming) might compose music.  Composer Tom Randle, whose has recently developed a career as a tenor with ENO, Glyndebourne, WNO and The Royal Opera, goes back to his compositional roots to create a supernatural operatic thriller about the spectacular rise and tragic fall of X, a young and supremely talented sculptor.

These are just three amongst some seventeen fragments and glimpses of arias, scenes, animated film and ambient music to whet appetites for work to come.  Exposure: Opera, February 16-18, the Linbury Studio, The Royal Opera House, London

Handel’s long operatic career in London began in 1711 with Rinaldo, although some of his music had been heard already, including his incidental music for The Alchemist.  The latter is part of a programme in which music composed or adapted for the London stage in the decade before he arrived (including works by Bonincini and Eccles) is combined with a performance of his secular cantata Apollo and Dafne.  A concise musical drama, it is based on the Greek myth of Apollo’s pursuit of Dafne, in which she turns into a laurel tree to escape his unwanted advances.  Although not written for the theatre, it indicates the impact that Handel was soon to have on the London stage.  February 9, The Wigmore Hall, London

There have been numerous adaptations and treatments for films, recordings and ballet and the work has added much to the sum of human happiness including starting a craze in Edwardian London for huge chiffon and feather covered hats (it remained the fashionable look for three years) and providing the inspiration for a 1950s corset.

The first English translation was prepared for performances in England in 1907 where it proved to be a sensation and ran for some 778 performances.  Opera della Luna use a translation by Jeremy Sams, to which they have given their own inimitable treatment.

Opera della Luna’s production of Lehár’s The Merry Widow opens on February 1 at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake and tours the country for the following three months.