Atalanta (opera) spectacular display of fireworks, which was highly popular with the royal family and the London audience, and the opera and fireworks display were revived a number of times in the year of its first performance. An arioso from the opera, "Care selve", is often heard in recital and on recordings. The German-born Handel had brought Italian opera to London stages for the first time in 1711 with his opera "Rinaldo". An enormous success, "Rinaldo" created a craze in London for Italian opera seria, a form focused overwhelmingly on solo arias for the star virtuoso singers. Handel had presented new operas
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