(Photo: Lloyd Winters) Händel’s “Partenope” has always occupied an unusual place in his output: admired by connoisseurs, overshadowed by his more solemn opera seria, and still rarely staged today. Yet this revived 2025 London Coliseum production—delivered with defiant vitality amidst the ENO’s institutional turbulence—makes a persuasive case for the opera’s brilliance. Led by a compelling young cast including Nardus Williams, {…}
The Thirteen will present Händel’s “Messiah” this holiday season. The Choir and Orchestra, under Matthew Robertson, will present the iconic work on Dec. 20, 2025 at 4 p.m. at National City Christian Church in Washington D.C. and on Dec. 21, 2025 at 5 p.m. at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church. There will be a pre-concert talk with Charles King, author of {…}
Opéra Royal Château de Versailles celebrated their 2025-26 season opening with Händel’s “Theodora” in the Chapelle Royale to a sold out crowd of locals and internationals. The Chapelle Royale was completed in 1710 under the reign of King Louis XIV. It was the last chapel built at Château de Versailles and features Gothic architecture with dramatic illustrated narratives in honor {…}
(Photo: Alan Neilson) The main presentation at this year’s Bayreuth Baroque Festival was a lavish, fully staged production of Francesco Cavalli’s 1666 opera, “Pompeo Magno,” boasting a large cast of high-quality singers and actors. Playing the role of Giulia was the Belgian soprano Sophie Junker, who, since winning both the London Händel Competition in 2010 and Innsbruck’s Cesti Competition in {…}
Pacific Northwest Opera is set to present “Rinaldo” this October. The opera will star Sarah Coit in her company debut as Rinaldo. She is joined by bass-baritone Luke Harnish, also making his company debut. Hallie Schmidt plays Armida. Other cast members include Jordan Seguin-Gascoigne, Jordan KNapick, Rosamund Dyer, and Boyd Schlaefer. Jonathan Khuner will conduct the opera. “If you like {…}
(Photo by Devon Cass) On August 24, 2025, Ravinia, in collaboration with Haymarket Opera Company, will present a performance of Händel’s “Alcina.” The showcase will be headlined by Nicole Cabell, taking on the title role, the only one by Händel in her repertory. Cabell, the 2005 winner of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, is no stranger to Ravinia, {…}
(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: Benjamin Elsholz) In the Goethe-Theater of Bad Lauchstädt—Germany’s only fully preserved Goethe-era theater—Handel’s “Clori, Tirsi e Fileno” received a rare and refreshingly focused staging. Composed around 1707 for unknown purpose, this pastoral cantata, though small in scale, hints at operatic intensity. In this performance by three exceptional young singers under Michael Hofstetter, its elegant construction emerged as both theatrically {…}
(Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva) This year’s International Händel Festival in Göttingen got under way with a splendid concert performance of the composer’s 1748 oratorio “Solomon,” to a libretto based on accounts from the Old Testament Books of Kings, Chronicles and Song of Solomon with additional material from Josephus, although the name of the librettist is unknown. Unlike a number {…}
(Photo: Philippe Matsas) On May 12th, the Kammermusiksaal of the Berliner Philharmonie witnessed a gripping concert performance of Händel’s “Tamerlano,” with a refined ensemble of soloists, supported by the Freiburger Barockorchester under the direction of René Jacobs. In an era where Baroque opera is often presented with elaborate visual stagings, one might ask: what can the concert format still achieve, {…}
(Photo: Felix Grünscloß) Although “Siroe, re di Persia” managed a good run of 17 performances, following its premiere at the King’s Theatre, London in 1728, Händel never revived the work. Apart from a couple of productions in Brunswick in 1730 and 1735, it lay dormant until the 20th century, has never managed to establish itself in the repertoire, and remains {…}