Composed by Francesca Caccini in 1625, La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina (En. "The Liberation of Ruggiero from the island of Alcina") is a comic opera in four scenes by Francesca Caccini, first performed 3 February 1625 at the Villa di Poggio Imperiale in Florence, with a libretto by Ferdinando Saracinelli [it] based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.
It is the first opera written by a woman and was long considered to be the first Italian opera to be performed outside of Italy. It was performed to celebrate the visit of Prince Władysław IV Vasa of Poland during Carnival 1625, and it was revived in Warsaw in 1628.
The work was commissioned by her employer Regent Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria, wife of Cosimo II de' Medici. Ruggiero was printed under the protection of Maria Magdalena in 1625, only five years after the first printed opera in Italy. It is the only opera by Francesca Caccini to survive.
CAST:
Alcina - Rebecca Batista deAlmeida
Melissa - Madison Marie McIntosh
First Lady - Maria Margiolakou
Second Lady - Heather O’Connor
Third lady - Allison Waggener
Ruggiero - Daniel Kamalic
Nettuno - Samuel Bowen
First tenor - Rongjun Li
Second tenor - Sung Shin
The piece will be conducted by Adrian Sylveen, artistic director of Connecticut Virtuosi/
Connecticut Lyric Opera, and staged by Alan Mann, artistic director of Opera Theater of
Connecticut, who returns to direct his third CLO/CV production.