Academy Of Ancient Music, Choir of the Academy of Ancient Music

AAM founder Christopher Hogwood continues his celebrated cycle of Handel operas at the Barbican with a classic but surprising tale of piracy, lost love and a journey to the underworld.

Premiered in 1740, Imeneo was Handel’s “farewell to Italian opera” and contains all the vivid characterisation and drama he had been perfecting over the previous decade. But the work also looks forward to the oratorios to which he would dedicate the rest of his life, anticipating the splendour (and even some of the tunes) of Messiah.