Handel conducted the first performance of Venceslao at the Haymarket Theatre on 12 January 1731. The complex plot features love rivals at the Polish court, a queen in disguise and mistaken identity. It is the third in a sequence of three pasticcii revived from the manuscripts by Leo Duarte for Opera Settecento and performed in a co-operation between the London and Halle Handel Festivals. Handel’s cast included Senesino, Fabri, Merighi and Anna Maria Strada del Pò. Our cast features two former London Handel Singing Competition prizewinners, as well as the 2018 winner, Helen Charlston.