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)
Salzburg Festival 2019: Alcina
At Salzburg Festival, Handel‘s Alcina is a true celebration of singing: Cecilia Bartoli shines in the title role of the sorceress Alcina as does Philippe Jaroussky in the role of Ruggiero.
At their side, Sandrine Piau as Morgana and Kristina Hammerström as Bradamante are “ravishing“ (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Director Damiano Michielietto stages his first baroque opera and creates a convincing mixture of psychological interpretation and associative imagery. Unlike the libretto, which is based on Ludovico Ariosto‘s epic “Orlando furioso”, the Venetian Michieletto moves the setting of Alcina’s magic island to a mysterious hotel with a mirror wall. The look in the mirror of an aging woman, who has an oppressive fear of no longer being desired, is the obvious core of the production. Gianluca Capuano conducts the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco prudently and with a slim orchestral sound, the Bachchor Salzburg is excellently rehearsed. Capuano “perfectly combines drama with precision and poetry“ raves Süddeutsche Zeitung. “An extraordinary show“ (The New York Times)
Salzburg Festival 2019: 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)
Innocence
Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (*1952) draws listeners into her soundscape: From the brooding darkness of the opening bars, the audience finds itself dragged into the unfolding nightmare. The libretto by Sofi Oksanen interweaves two narratives of a school shooting. One focuses on the students and their teacher who were present at the time of the massacre. The second is set in the present day at a wedding with the family of the shooter celebrating their innocent son’s marriage. A thriller-like intensity shifts time levels and a mixture of nine languages. “The most powerful work Saariaho has written in a career now in its fifth decade” (The New York Times). Director Simon Stone approaches this multi-layered subject with sensitivity and empathy, supported by Susanna Malkki’s fine reading of the score on the rostrum of the London Symphony Orchestra and a great cast including Magdalena Kožena and Sandrine Piau. “A composer creates her masterpiece with Innocence” The New York Times
A Baroque Celebration
The 19th of December 2011 was an evening of colour, joy and entertainment, as 19 renowned musicians joined forces in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Paris. They were brought together in sound and harmony by the dervish of baroque music, Emmanuelle Haïm. This 10th anniversary of the ‘Le Concert d’Astrée’ was celebrated by Haïm and the musicians in a very special way: an exuberant party of the baroque. The 20 singers and instrumentalists joining the ensemble, having refined their musical collaboration for the past 10 years: Natalie Dessay, Sandrine Piau and Anne Sofie von Otter, as well as Philippe Jaroussky, Patricia Petibon, Rolando Villazon or the Finnish tenor Topi Lehtipuu. —— Arias, Duets, Trios und Quartets from G. F. HANDEL: Il Trionfo del Tempo, Giulio Cesare, The Messiah, Ariodante; H. PURCELL: The Fairy Queen; J. B. LULLY: Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, C. MONTEVERDI: L’incoronazione di Poppea; J. P. RAMEAU: Dardanus