"Octavia," with Boston Early Music

Published November 23, 2025 at 7:00 PM EST

Octavia, dressed in a white sheet with red ribbons pouring from her wrists, towers over a terrified Nero.

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Octavia terrifying Nero.

Kathy Wittman

The ghosts are dressed in gray gowns with skull masks, and they dance around the stage in bare feet.

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Ghosts dancing in Octavia.

Kathy Wittman

Nero looks off into the dark distance with blood dripping from his eyes.

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The Roman Emperor Nero, hallucinating.

Kathy Wittman

Sunday, November 23, 2025
7:00 PM

On WCRB In Concert with BEMF, the power of love and trickery rewrite history in Reinhard Keiser's opera “Octavia: The Roman Rebellion." In this centerpiece opera of the 2025 Boston Early Music Festival, the virtuous Roman Empress Octavia is betrayed by her increasingly erratic husband Nero, putting all of Rome on the brink of rebellion.

Paul O'Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Emőke Baráth, soprano (Octavia)
Douglas Ray Williams, bass-baritone (Nero)
Amanda Forsythe, soprano (Ormœna)
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano (Clelia)
Aaron Sheehan, tenor (Piso)
Hannah De Priest, soprano (Livia)
Christian Immler, baritone (Seneca)
Michael Skarke, countertenor (Tiridates)
Richard Pittsinger, tenor (Fabius)
Marc Molomot, tenor (Davus)
Jason McStoots, tenor (Lepidus)
BEMF Orchestra

Reinhard KEISER & Barthold FEIND Octavia: The Roman Rebellion

This performance was originally recorded on June 13, 2025 at the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Read the program notes for this concert.

Learn more about BEMF and their upcoming productions.