Cast:
- Vivica Genaux (Rinaldo)
- Inga Kalna (Armida/Second Siren)
- Miah Persson (Almirena/First Siren)
- Christophe Dumaux (Eustazio)
- James Rutherford (Argante)
- Lawrence Zazzo (Goffredo)
- Dominique Visse (A Christian Magician)

“The star of the show is Latvian mezzo Inga Kalna as Armida. She can make us laugh or cry; her expressive palette is vast, her voice big and thrilling...For sheer heroics, there's no beating Vivica Genaux's Rinaldo. Genaux seems born to the great castrato roles, combining precisely the hermaphrodite appeal that the original interpreters must have had with an almost inhuman gift for vocal pyrotechnics. She looks and moves like a man on stage, all strut and machismo, without for a moment losing her waif-like femininity. Her voice isn't big, but she knows how to use it to its full advantage. A natural communicator and a riveting performer, she can only get more famous from here.” - Shirley Apthorp, The Financial Times, 21 August 2002 (Innsbruck Festival performance)

"Jacobs is the big plus: his conducting is always imaginative, always looking for ways to bring the performance alive theatrically." - Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 11 April 2003

"the finest solo performance comes from Inga Kalna as Armida in Ah, crudel, while Miah Persson as Almierna is as touching in the exquisite Lasica ch'io pianga, Handel at his most beguiling." - Michael Kennedy, The Sunday Telegraph, 25 May 2003

"Vivica Genaux delivers a triumphant account of the title role, giving purposeful meaning to every page of recitative and finding as delicate shadings of tone for the lover as she does formidable virtuosity for the warrior…Altogether a feast for lovers of Handel’s operas." - George Hall, Opera Now Choice, Opera Now, July/August 2003

Classical CD of the Week, The Sunday Times, 6 April 2003