The GRAMMY-winning Boston Early Music Festival returns with an all-new production of Reinhard Keiser's Octavia!

The virtuous Empress Octavia is betrayed by her increasingly erratic husband, Nero, putting all of Rome on the brink of rebellion. Written for the famed Hamburg Opera in 1705, Keiser’s monumental work brings lavish spectacle  and brilliant orchestration to a fascinatingly nuanced tale of the corruption of power and the resilience of love. A fantastical parade of philosophers, clowns, ghosts, and despots comes alive on the stage as noble Octavia struggles to survive the turmoil and cruelty around her.