These days, it seems no operatic mountain is too high for Haymarket Opera. The company’s latest enterprise, Leonardo Vinci’s “Artaserse,” is one such intimidating peak. The rarely staged 1730 opera, ...

Lucie Skeaping explores Artaserse, one of the most popular opera libretti by the great 18th-century dramatist Metastasio, which centres on Artaxerxes I, King of Persia. Show more Lucie Skeaping ...

For some classical music lovers, nothing can compare to a well-executed baroque opera, with the machine of the orchestra clicking along and the singers filigreeing their da capo ornaments on top. It’s ...

Pietro Metastasio was the most famous librettist of his age and is still regarded as the most important opera seria author today. His textbook for Artaserse was set more than forty times in the 18th ...

Johann Adolphe Hasse was one of the most celebrated composers of the 18th Century, but sadly neglected after his death. This is the first Australian production of his opera Artaserse (1740) and stars ...