Acis & Galatea

Handel’s Acis and Galatea recounts the tragic love between the sea-nymph Galatea and the shepherd Acis. Their happiness is destroyed by the jealousy of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who kills Acis by crushing him with a rock. In her grief, Galatea transforms him into a flowing river, so that their love endures beyond death – a myth of beauty, loss, and eternal devotion that inspired Handel’s enduring pastoral opera. Presented as a candlelit, semi-staged performance in St Carthage’s Cathedral, Lismore – an evocative setting for this timeless work.