(Photo: Birgit Gufler) Innsbruck’s Early Music Festival decided on a presentation of Händel’s 1736 opera, “Atalanta,” for its Oper Jung production, a popular event with audiences that gives opportunities to young singers that have impressed in previous editions of its Cesti singing competition the possibility of performing major roles. The choice of “Atalanta” was not a particularly exciting one, as {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Händel’s magic operas, with their complicated love plots, sorceresses, gods, monsters and magical transformations set in an era of chivalric sensitivities, alongside a rigid musical structure of recitatives separated by arias that hold up the narrative, can be a nightmare for directors. Yet in the right hands, they become visually exciting and dramatically engaging spectacles, and Olivia {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadi) For the November installment of the Ravenna Festival, it was decided to present a Händel trilogy, comprising two fully staged operas, “Orlando” and “Alcina,” and a concert performance of his oratorio “The Messiah.” First up was the composer’s 1733 composition, “Orlando,” written to a libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece, which premiered at London’s King’s Theatre and ran for {…}
(Photo: Padraig Grant) In 1752, Händel’s final complete composition, his oratorio “Jephtha,” was premiered at London’s Covent Garden Theatre, bringing to an end the composer’s illustrious career. Just over ten years earlier, he had premiered his opera “Deidamia” at London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre, in what proved to be another significant landmark; it was to be the last of his {…}
(Photo: Thomas Ziegler) Händel’s 1731 opera “Poro, re dell’Indie,” his 28th opera seria, initially proved to be a success, knocking up an initial run of 16 performances at the King’s Theatre, London, followed by revivals in the city as well as productions in Hamburg and Braunschweig. Even before the composer’s death in 1759, however, it had disappeared completely from theatres {…}
(Photo: Felix Grünschloß) One of the highlights of this year’s International Händel Festspiele in Karlsruhe was its new production of the composer’s rarely performed 1731 revised version of “Rinaldo.” Arranged for a performance operating on a smaller budget with a new ensemble, Händel made numerous changes to the original 1711 score, including a reduction in the size of the orchestra {…}
(Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva) At the end of February, start of March this year, the Badisches Staatstheater, Karlsruhe is presenting a Händel festival, which includes productions of “Rinaldo,” and “Siroe, Re di Persia,” among many other events. During a recent performance of “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria” in Ravenna, OperaWire met up with Spanish tenor Jorge Navarro Colorado, {…}
(Photo: ©pissarek) Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s “Händel & Greber” program featured works that compliment and celebrate works by both composers in tandem with musical ideas that resonate across space and time. The evening included soprano Silvia Frigato and mezzo-soprano Mathilde Ortscheidt. Ortscheidt is the recipient of the first prize at last year’s “Pietro Antonio Cesti” Baroque Opera Competition in {…}
(Photo: Clarissa Lapolla) As the last notes of Ariodante’s aria “Dopo notte atra e funestra” died away, the audience sounded its approval with enthusiastic applause and loud cheering; some people were even on their feet. They were joined by the orchestra and its conductor, Federico Maria Sardelli, who was also applauding. And it showed no signs of abating, at least {…}
(Photo: Genevieve Girling) Written in 1707 while living in Italy, Händel’s first oratorio, “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno,” was a work that he would return to again and again over his career. Not only did he mine it for arias he could use in his operas, but he also created two further versions of the piece. In 1737, {…}
The story of how Accademia Bizantina (AB) began seems quite simple. But like all good stories, there is more to it than meets the eye. In 1983 three classmates of the Ravenna Conservatory met for coffee. This initial meeting included Angelo Nicastro, a violist and now director of the Ravenna Festival; Romano Valentini, a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, as well {…}
