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By the time Handel arrived in London in 1710 he was an established composer with five Italian operas under his belt. He took the capital by storm with his first offering for the London stage a year later and over the next three decades Handel composed over 50 operas, all produced in London and starring some of the greatest singers of the Baroque era.
In 1719 the Royal Academy of Music was formed in order to create a more secure footing for the production of Italian opera, which was just the platform Handel needed. Donald Macleod introduces music from the first opera he wrote for the Academy - complete with family feuds, illicit passions and royal tyrants - the second suite created from the music which famously accompanied King George I's progress along the River Thames in 1717 and one of the eleven anthems Handel composed in honour of his patron the first Duke of Chandos.

Aria: Venti turbini (Rinaldo)
David Daniels, countertenor (Rinaldo)
Academy of Ancient Music
Director Christopher Hogwood

Water Music Suite No 2
Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
Conductor George Kallweit

O Sing unto the Lord
The Sixteen Choir and Orchestra
Conductor Harry Christophers

Radamisto (excerpt)
Maite Beaumont, mezzo-soprano (Zenobia)
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano (Radamisto)
Laura Cherici, soprano (Tigrane)
Dominique Labelle, soprano (Fraarte)
Il Complesso Barocco
Director Alan Curtis.