Serse January, the third by 6 February, and Handel put the finishing touches to the score on 14 February. "Serse" was first performed at the King's Theatre, Haymarket on 15 April 1738. The first production was a complete failure. The audience may have been confused by the innovative nature of the work. Unlike his other operas for London, Handel included comic ("buffo") elements in "Serse". Although this had been typical for 17th-century Venetian works such as Cavalli's original setting of the libretto, by the 1730s an "opera seria" was expected to be wholly serious, with no mixing of the genres of
2000 in British music charts selling albums. The major event of the classical music year was the launch of the Faenol Festival in North Wales by opera singer Bryn Terfel. The festival programme included popular music as well as classical and opera. In its first year, the festival performers included Michael Ball. The Proms season was notable for being the year in which Sir Andrew Davis ended his run as conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, subsequently to become musical director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Composer Peter Maxwell Davies spent the year as Artist in Residence at the Barossa Music Festival, and produced