A film to explore the profound cultural and historical impact of Handel’s Messiah, tracing its journey from its legendary 1742 Dublin premiere to becoming a yearly sing-along tradition on Dublin’s streets. With exclusive interviews, the film features insights from conductor Proinnsías O’Duinn, violinist Dermot O’Hanlon, and singer Sharon Carty, who perform in the traditional open-air performance with the Lady’s Choral Society and the Dublin Handelian Orchestra. The production portrays Messiah not just as a historical relic, but as a living tradition that continues to move and empower audiences 285 years after its first notes echoed through Dublin.
Giulio Cesare
Triumphantly premiered in 1724 at the King’s Theatre in London, George Frideric Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto masterfully combines human emotions: Triumph with sorrow, despair with happiness and love with profound melancholy in the face of the transience of all earthly life. Star director Keith Warner creates a production that imaginatively blends silent film and baroque opera, delightfully echoing Mankiewicz’s legendary Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton. An excellent cast of singers is led by two of the world’s leading countertenors: Bejun Mehta and Christophe Dumaux. Louise Alder shines as the seductive Cleopatra. Patricia Bardon, Simon Bailey and Jake Arditti are further highlights in this extraordinary group of singers, while Ivor Bolton provides the appropriate soundtrack on the podium of the Concentus Musicus Wien. “Cheers for all involved” / “Many of the excellent singing actors present themselves in top form.” Kurier “A must for baroque opera fans.” Kronen Zeitung
Saul
In 2009, Claus Guth staged a highly impressive “Messiah” at the Theater an der Wien; with “Saul”, he created again breathtaking musical theater at its finest. Florian Boesch in the title role dominates the production as the ruler slipping into madness. Boesch is an elemental force that attracts attention on stage like a black hole. As David, British countertenor Jake Arditti gives a perfect presentation of the change from the innocent boy to the man who, after many dramatic events, becomes Saul’s successor. “The pure Handel stroke of luck!” (Neue Musikzeitung). Anna Prohaska (Merab), Giulia Semenzato (Michal) and Rupert Charlesworth (Jonathan) perform convincingly the roles of Saul’s children who succumb to David’s physical and spiritual charms. The Freiburger Barockorchester under Christopher Moulds holds a finely textured balance between powerful ensemble and delicate solo passages of Handel’s score. The Arnold Schoenberg Choir’s nuanced singing – alternately exulting, admonitory or mournful – is as inspiring as the sound of the renowned period-instrument ensemble. “Handel vividly, today, as a mirror of the metamorphoses of power.” (Kurier) / “Florian Boesch as Saul is a vocal and acting elemental force, simply an ideal cast.” (Die Presse)
Ariodante
At Salzburg Festival, Cecilia Bartoli shines as Ariodante with her dazzling coloratura in a highly acclaimed new production by the German director Christoph Loy, who is known for his clever psychological stagings. Loy turns Handel’s splendid baroque opera into an exciting and differentiated reflection on gender roles. A high-class ensemble, first and foremost a brilliant Cecilia Bartoli in the trouser role of the knight Ariodante who effortlessly switches between cheerful and lamenting virtuoso singing makes the production a true triumph. At her side perform audience favourite Rolando Villazón as Lurcano and young American soprano Kathryn Lewek, praised by critics as a „true discovery“ (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Gianluca Capuano at the podium of the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco „provides for elegance, richness of colour and a sensitive, stirring realisation of the ingenious score.“ (Kurier). „Cecilia Bartoli is a league of her own!” (Der Standard). “The singing was sensational” (LA Times)
Admeto
For Handel’s Admeto, Oscar® nominated film director Doris Dörrie – winner of the 2009 Edinburgh International Festival’s prestigious Herald Angel Award – returns to her beloved subject of Japan. In vividly coloured and brilliantly realized set pieces, one of Handel’s most popular operas receives a stunning transformation into the stylishly ritualized world of samurai culture. “It’s brilliantly played by the period-instrument FestspielOrchester Göttingen, conducted with fine sensibility and sensuality by Nicholas McGegan” (The Times).
Xerxes (Serse)
Serse is one of Handel’s latest and most frequently performed operas, famous for its marvellous opening aria “Ombra mai fu”. At the centre of the confusing tragicomedy, very loosely based upon the life of Xerxes I of Persia, is a powerful and lovesick royal eccentric, King Serse. Rising opera star Gaëlle Arquez in the title role of Serse “scintillates with her nimble, luminous mezzo-soprano”, singing “irresistibly beautiful, impassioned, furious – but never mean” (Frankfurter Rundschau). Conducted by Constantinos Carydis, the performance is also musically excellent. “Over and over again, the orchestra, in an intelligent, often witty way, comments with improvised gestures on the stage proceedings, the fine dynamic differentiation, and the many eloquent timbres” (Stuttgarter Nachrichten). Frankfurt’s excellent Opern- and Museumsorchester contributes “all sorts of refinements” to this “musical smash hit” (Deutschlandfunk) and „In Frankfurt Tilman Köhler ensures a three-hour short abundant and furious banquett… a great evening of opera.“ (Deutschlandfunk).
Arminio
Max Emanuel Cencic excels with his celebrated and award-winning production of George Frideric Handel’s masterpiece Arminio at the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe. The remarkable counter-tenor Cencic, who dedicates himself to the revival and performance of the music of the 18th century, demonstrates once more that Baroque singing can be both technically brilliant and at the same time modern and emotionally engaging. His enchanting staging of Arminio is the fulminant revival of the heroic story. When premiered in 1737 at London’s Covent Garden, Arminio strangely received only six performances, despite being praised as “a miracle” and “in every respect excellent and vastly pleasing” by contemporaries. Handel’s opera fell into oblivion – until Cencic put it into the limelight, resulting in the “rehabilitation of the piece” (FAZ). Cencic’s production of Arminio, which created a furore when performed at the Theater an der Wien, features the ensemble Armonia Atenea under the baton of George Petrou and stars the stage director in the leading role: “Cencic is not only as counter-tenor but also as stage director at the peak of his success” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).
Theodora
George Frideric Handl´s oratorio Theodora, in it´s first-ever staged version at Salzburg Festival, was among the highlights of Handel Year 2009. Acclaimed director Christoph Loy presented Theodora as the profoundly moving tale of a woman who prefers death to denying her faith, an interpretation captivated with bravura by world-renowned video director Hannes Rossacher. A luminous Christine Schaefer and countertenor Bejun Mehta formed a perfect leading couple altoghether suited to conductor Ivor Bolton´s vigorous reading. “With Christine Schaefer, Salzburg has found an ideal singer for the title role.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Messiah
To mark the 250th anniversary of Handel´s death, Vienna´s Theater an der Wien realized a truly extraordinary project: the staging of Messiah, the composer´s most popular oratorio.Collaborating with an exquisite cast of singers, Claus Guth, one of today´s highly renowned stage directors, delivered “an emotionally and psychologically charged sequence of images … “The audience was thrilled” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
Messiah
n the middle of the historic baroque garden in Ceský Krumlov, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, Messiah comes alive in a magical atmosphere of light and dark. The production, which subtly links the biblical story of Jesus Christ with the life of Josef Adam, born in 1722, Duke of Krumlov and Prince of Schwarzenberg, is effec-tively staged as a baroque feast, with top-class early music soloists and one hundred and fifty choristers performing in replicas of baroque costumes. The performances take place at a unique spot: The theatre with revolving auditorium in Ceský Krumlov is one of only two theatres of this type in Europe. Located in front of the
rococo Bellarie Palace in the Baroque garden of the chateau, it was first put into operation in 1958 and, after several reconstructions, currently holds almost 650 spectators. With 56,000 tickets sold, the performances are the most attended summer cultural event in the entire Czech Republic and are thus the focus of interest among domestic and foreign spectators.