OPERA THEATRE COMPANY O'Reilly Theatre, Belvedere College, Dublin Fri 8pm €22 1890-305305 (open dress rehearsal); Sat 8pm €42.50 1890-305305; Town Hall Theatre, Galway Tues 8pm €25 091-569777; Siamsa Tíre Theatre,Tralee, Co Kerry Thurs 8pm €25 066-7123055; and on tour until Sat, Mar 7Handel's Xerxesis one of those operas that almost everyone knows a tune from.
The piece we now know as Handel's Largocomes from the opening of the opera, where, extraordinary as it may seem, it's an aria to a tree – "Never was nature's own shade more beloved or sweetly treasured than thine". Opera Theatre Company, long the most ardent advocates of Handel among Irish companies, take the work on for the first time in a new production directed by Michael Moxham, designed by Sarah Bacon, conducted by Andrew Synnott, with Imelda Drumm in the title role.
Xerxesopens in Dublin on Saturday (preceded by an open dress rehearsal on Friday), and tours the country (Galway, Tralee, Limerick, Cork, Kilkenny, Skibbereen, Omagh, Sligo and Belfast) until March 7th.
