Handel's opera Tolomeo, premiered in 1728, was the last opera he wrote for the Royal Academy of Music and featured the superstar trio of castrato Senesino with sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni. Baroque Encounter presents a costumed and semi-staged performance in a new English translation. 

The Egyptian prince, Tolomeo (Ptolomy), is in exile on the island of Cyprus and disguises himself as a shepherd for his own safety. His wife, Seleuce, finds herself shipwrecked on the same island and equally goes into disguise to search for her lost husband. Separately and later together, they try to rebuff the obsessively malevolent and romantic attentions of the King of Cyprus and his sister, whilst also avoiding Tolomeo's brother sent on an assassin's mission by their mother, Cleopatra. 

Handel weaves a rich web of emotions: romantic, poignant, tragic and mad which eventually resolve into a glorious harmony that only the great master can achieve. 

Baroque Encounter, established in 2004, are delighted to return to St John's Smith Square where they have previously presented Handel's Imeneo, Parnasso in Festa and Dramatic Cantatas, with this sumptuous baroque feast of music including its most famous aria that later found stand-alone popularity as Silent Worship.