This riotous Rinaldo trades battleground for playground.

Christian knight Rinaldo loves Almirena, but she has been kidnapped by the scheming sorceress Armida. A magical battle of wits and wills ensues between Rinaldo’s Crusaders and the Saracen army, as the fate not just of two lovers but two nations hangs in the balance.

Carsen’s exuberant schoolroom staging is well on its way to becoming a Glyndebourne classic, bringing out all the energy and excess in the young Handel’s first opera for the London stage. The composer’s colourful, tune-filled score – bright with brass fanfares and memorable arias including ‘Lascia ch’io pianga’ – is one of his finest, sweeping the audience from laughter to love and back again, in this exotic, East-meets-West musical fantasy.

Baroque specialist Ottavio Dantone conducts Robert Carsen’s production, with fearless contralto Sonia Prina in the title role. She does battle with Brenda Rae’s explosive Armida and Luca Pisaroni as Argante.

Recorded live at Glyndebourne Opera House, Festival 2011.

This production contains adult themes.