Opera :
Haendel - Giulio Cesare in Egitto

Opera
Conductor Gianluca Capuano
Director Davide Livermore

Dramma per musica in three acts
Music by Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685-1759)
Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym after the text of Giacomo Francesco Bussani
Premiere : King’s Theatre at Haymarket, London, 20 february 1724

New production

It was for the British capital and its refined, opera seria loving public that Georg Friedrich Handel reserved the quintessence of his art. The premiere of Giulio Cesare in Egitto at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket in February 1724 was received triumphantly. Although the adventures of the Roman consul and the Egyptian queen were not a novelty, the magnificent beauty of the countless arias dedicated to the castrato Senesino and the famous soprano Francesca Cuzzoni turned this work into one of the most performed operas. However, swept away by the Romantic wave of the 19th century, it was only in 1922, in Göttingen, that it would briefly return to the stage, before making a comeback after the War with the great voices of that period. It was not until the 1970s, however, that the score would be reinstated in its entirety, with the original orchestration and tessitura. This new production, directed by Davide Livermore, continues in this tradition of historically informed performance practice. The run in Monaco is followed by guest performances of our company at the Wiener Staatsoper. Following her memorable incarnations of Ariodante and Alcina, Cecilia Bartoli presents her third Handelian character in Monte Carlo. At her side are three distinguished countertenors, some of the finest interpreters of 18th century music.