Samson and Deliah performance hopes to cut it above the rest

Love and Revenge, a concert of theatre music, is being held in a St Albans church next Saturday, May 29.

Palace Opera are putting on the performance at 7pm in St Saviour’s Church in Sandpit Lane and will feature Stravinsky’s Petroushka and Act Two of Saint Saens’ opera Samson and Delilah.

Petroushka, conducted by Michael Thorne, tells the Russian folk tale of a heartbroken puppet; effectively Pinocchio for adults. It tells the story of the Russian ‘Punch’, a much more complicated and human creation than his English cousin, who is driven to an early grave by his love for the ballerina puppet.

Samson and Delilah relates the Bible story of the fall of Samson when he succumbs to the charms of the Philistine woman Delilah. In the second act of the opera, which is presented in this concerts Delilah lures Samson into breaking his pact with his god.

Delilah overwhelms Samson’s heroism and nobility, which is temporarily vanquished, leading to his enslavement before he redeems himself in his act of self-sacrifice.

The second act, performed in a new translation by Jonathan Finney who also conducts, includes Delilah’s most famous aria and a a ‘love-duet’.

The concert at St Saviour’s Church is the second to be produced by Palace Opera, following a performance of highlights from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in May 2015.

Tickets are £15 with concessions £10, available on the door or reserved from Palace Opera via email palaceopera2015@gmail.com