(Photo: Felix Grünschloß) OperaWire was fortunate to be present at The International Händel Festspiele in Karlsruhe earlier this month in which we caught a splendid production of the composer’s 1731 opera, “Rinaldo.” Fortunately, we managed a very quick interview with one of its star performers, mezzosoprano Valeria Girardello. OperaWire: What was the first opera you saw? Valeria Girardello: “L’Italiana in {…}
Photo: Michele Crosera In 1707, Händel arrived in Rome and soon made the acquaintance of important members of the papacy, including Cardinal Benedetto Pamphilj, from whom he received his first major libretto, “Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno.” Because public performances of operas in Rome had been forbidden by papal ban in 1703, Handel made this an oratorio. Although {…}
Photo: Marco Caselli Nirmal Ferrara’s Teatro Comunale served up a rare treat with a production of Vivaldi’s 1737 opera “Catone in Utica” to a libretto by Metastasio. Well, it was not a complete presentation, as the music for the first act was lost. As a result, we were left with a truncated version comprising Acts two and three, which had {…}
(Photo: Michele Crosera) As the final bars of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” played to a close, the chorus moved from the floor of the theater to surround the body of Dido, who lies dead on a raised platform, having slit her own throat. Just behind her a dancer, dressed in a wedding dress contorted and distorted herself into positions of {…}