Tempesta di Mare presented three performances of Handel’s operatic miniature, Clori, Tirsi & Fileno at the Elaine C. Levitt Theater at Philadelphia’s Gershman Y on May 19, 21 and 22, 2005. The first performance was attended by over 400 students from area schools. The production was the first time a resident baroque orchestra has performed a staged baroque opera in Philadelphia.

World-renowned opera director and countertenor Drew Minter staged this light comedy of how a young woman named Clori tests the friendship of the two young men who both like her, Tirsi and Fileno, by playing them off of one another. With Margaret Bragle as Clori, Marguerite Krull as Tirsi and Minter himself as Fileno, Tempesta di Mare’s Artistic Co-Director Richard Stone led the 19-piece baroque-instrument orchestra. The performance was sung in a new English verse translation created for this production by poet Lawrence Rosenwald.

Handel composed this outstanding, attractive and accessible piece in 1707, a young man at the start of a brilliant career and enduring fame. Clori, Tirsi & Fileno, which will be a discovery for most of the audience, tells its story through dazzling arias, duets and trios that reflect the exuberance of a twenty-two year old composer already in full control of his craft. Click here to read the program notes.