Conductor and Handel aficionado Christopher Hogwood has put together an impressive cast for an opera that has only been performed twice in this country since its debut in 1730s London.

Hogwood – emeritus director of the Academy Of Ancient Music – brings together Miah Persson, Lisa Milne, Sonia Prina, Karen Cargill, Antonio Abete and Kristina Hammarström (who replaces Angelika Kirchschlager in the role of Teseo following the latter’s illness).

Marking the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death, this semi-staged performance is the final instalment of the Academy Of Ancient Music’s three-year journey through the composer’s opera series, a journey that began in 2007 with Amadigi di Gaula (written in the 1710s) and continued last year with Flavio, Re di Longobardi (1720s). The opera, which retells the story of Theseus and the Minotaur with a pronounced Baroque slant, is full of drama and vocal virtuosity, and this performance will use a specially-prepared new edition, based on the version of the opera originally performed at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket in 1734.

A noted scholar as well as a conductor, Hogwood is curating Handel Reveal’d, a keynote exhibition exploring the composer’s finances, his love of food, and other areas of his personal life, which opened last month at London’s Handel House Museum, in Brook Street, Mayfair. His appearance at the festival comes hot on the heels of a seven-performance run of Acis and Galatea at the Royal Opera House.

  • Starts 7pm. Tickets £10-£30. Call 01273 709709.