Photo Flash: First Look at Royal Opera and London Handel Festival's BERENICE

Handel's Berenice returns to Covent Garden in a new co-production by The Royal Opera and London Handel Festival, nearly 282 years after its 1737 premiere at the Covent Garden Theatre, a forerunner to the Royal Opera House. Staged in the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre, the West's End's newest and most intimate theatre, the new production is directed by Adele Thomas and sung in a new English translation by Selma Dimitrijevic.

Berenice opens the 2019 London Handel Festival, which explores the theme of 'Handel's Divas', tracing the lives of the female singers who performed and inspired the composer's music. London Handel Festival Musical Director Laurence Cummings makes his Royal Opera debut conducting the musicians of the London Handel Orchestra, alongside a cast led by British soprano Claire Booth, also making her Royal Opera debut in the title role.

The opera's story pits two strong women against princes and each other in a battle of love and politics, with Adele Thomas's production placing the drama and intrigue of the plot in a theatre as two divas go head to head backstage.

Berenice opens at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre on 27 March 2019, with subsequent performances on 29 and 30 March and 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 April 2019.

The 2019 London Handel Festival runs from 27 March to 29 April 2019.

Photo Credit: Clive Barda