Westminster Opera Theater, presents G.F. Handel’s Alcina on Thursday, March 29; Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31 at 8 p.m. in The Playhouse on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, N.J.   It will be performed in Italian with English supertitles and accompanied by a chamber ensemble.  Albert Sherman is the director and William Hobbs is the music director. 

Alcina is an opera seria that uses the libretto of L'isola di Alcina, an opera that was set in Rome by Riccardo Broschi.  The plot was originally taken from Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, an epic poem set in the time of Charlemagne's wars.

In addition to serving on the faculty at Westminster Choir College William Hobbs works as repetiteur and conductor at many of the world’s major opera houses.  He is the founder and artistic director of Opera Slavica, which is devoted to presenting full productions of masterworks from Russian, Czech and Polish composers. His repertoire ranges from Handel to the European avant‐garde, as well as works by Slavic composers and a number of premieres by American composers, such as Lowell Liebermann and John Musto.

Albert Sherman has directed productions of opera, operetta, and musical theater for companies across the United States, and he has been a member of New York City Opera’s directing staff for 28 seasons. His additional credits include productions of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and Two Widows, Verdi’s Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, Offenbach’s Bluebeard, and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore and HMS Pinafore for such companies as Sarasota Opera, Augusta Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chattanooga Opera, Opera Theater of Rochester, Lyric Opera of Dallas, and the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts.

Westminster Opera Theater, which is composed of students at Westminster Choir College,  has been praised for its innovative productions of a wide range of operas. Participants in the program have gone on to perform in opera houses around the world.

Admission is $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors.  To order tickets call 609-921-2663 go online.