Theater Summer Festival 2014

A contemporary take on the 18th-century genre of the pastiche, this delightful Baroque fantasy brings together more than 30 of the greatest arias and ensembles by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, Purcell, and other composers, with a new English libretto by Jeremy Sams, inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The four young lovers from A Midsummer Night’s Dream find themselves shipwrecked on Prospero’s island from The Tempest, leading to a tortuous web of comic and dramatic romantic entanglements. The all-star cast is headed by David Daniels as Prospero, Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax, Danielle de Niese as Ariel, Luca Pisaroni as Caliban, and the legendary Plácido Domingo as Neptune. William Christie conducts this dazzling world-premiere production by director Phelim McDermott (Satyagraha).