An Insight Evening focusing on Handel's Orlando, in the European Art Gallery of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
In anticipation of our 2026 production, we are delighted to invite you to an evening of words and music celebrating our new production of Handel's Orlando.
Writer, broadcaster and historian Dr Ruth Smith offers historical and literary contexts, musical analysis and insight into why Orlando is the most outré and extraordinary of Handel's operas. With musical contributions from acclaimed Handelian soprano Anna Devin and conductor and keyboardist, Christopher Moulds.
Arrivals from 7.00pm, with drinks in the Sculpture Gallery. The event will begin promptly at 7.30pm in the European Art Gallery, and will be followed by drinks and canapés.
location
This event takes place at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum (OX1 2PH).
booking information
Booking is open to Longborough members. Please login to access booking or call Box Office on 01451 830292.
A limited number of tickets are available for 18-35 Members.
biographies
Dr Ruth Smith is internationally known as a writer, lecturer and broadcaster on Handel’s works for the theatre. Her Handel’s Oratorios and Eighteenth-Century Thought (CUP) was awarded a Cambridge PhD and a British Academy prize. Other publications include Charles Jennens: The Man behind Handel’s Messiah and numerous articles in academic encyclopaedias and journals including on Handel’s Orlando. She is a Council member and trustee of the Handel Institute and an Ambassador for Cambridge Handel Opera. From 1983 to 2011 she was a careers adviser at Cambridge University Careers Service.
Irish soprano Anna Devin has gained recognition across the world for her work in the Baroque and Classical repertoire.
Upcoming engagements include the role of Nicomede in Scarlatti’s Mitridate Eupatore with Vespres d’Arnadi in Barcelona, Handel’s Messiah with Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Schumann’s Das Paradis und die Peri with National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, and the role of Angelica in Orlando with Longborough Festival Opera under Chris Moulds.
Recent concert highlights include Haydn’s Paukenmesse with London Philharmonic Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on tour with Irish Chamber Orchestra; Bach’s Mass in b minor on tour with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; and the title role in Handel’s Rodelinda with Moscow Philharmonic.
Her successes on the opera stage include Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Nanetta in Falstaff, and Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi for the Royal Opera House; Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia for English National Opera; Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare for Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Early Opera Company, and Kilkenny Arts Festival; La Bergère Louis XV and La Chauve-Souris in L’enfant et les sortilèges for La Scala; soprano soloist in Deborah Warner’s production of Messiah for Opéra National de Lyon; Michal in Saul for the Théâtre du Châtelet and Glyndebourne Festival; and the title role in La Calisto in David Alden’s iconic production in Madrid.
Christopher Moulds is a renowned conductor whose expertise and versatility make him a sought-after figure, captivating audiences worldwide with his dynamic performances. Enjoying strong affiliations with opera houses including the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Staatsoper Stuttgart and Opéra national du Rhin, Moulds commands a repertoire spanning from Monteverdi, Handel, and Mozart to Humperdinck, Britten and Birtwistle.
This season, Moulds leads major productions across Europe including Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Staatsoper Berlin, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, and Handel’s Orlando with both the Opéra de Lausanne and Longborough Festival Opera. Last season, he conducted Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Essen, Handel’s Ariodante with Opéra national du Rhin, Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper, and Rameau’s Castor et Pollux at Staatstheater Meiningen.
In recent years, Moulds has excelled in a variety of prominent engagements, including a return to San Francisco Opera for Handel’s Partenope, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Mozart’s Idomeneo at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, and concert appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse and the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also led Così fan tutte at the Opernhaus Zürich, and appeared many times at Staatsoper Berlin with repertoire including Così fan tutte, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Figaro, Hänsel und Gretel, Punch and Judy and The Turn of the Screw. He has conducted Le nozze di Figaro and La Calisto at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he also led Il Ritorno / Das Jahr des magischen Denkens as part of the Ja, Mai festival, and at Staatsoper Stuttgart he has conducted Alcina, Figaro and Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride. Read more >
