Organization

Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen

Conductor

George Petrou

Stage director

Set designer

Paris Mexis

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Stella Kaltsou

Singer

Countertenor

Yuriy Mynenko

Julius Caesar

Soprano

Sophie Junker

Cleopatra

Nicholas Tamagna

Tolomeo

Contralto

Francesca Ascioti

Cornelia

Katie Coventry

Sesto

Bass

Riccardo Novaro

Achilla

Artur Janda

Curio

Rafał Tomkiewicz

Nireno

Italian

Giulio Cesare in Egitto -  (Julius Caesar in Egypt)

Göttingen

Germany

Deutsches Theater Göttingen

Giulio Cesare in Egitto Händel

Public

Julius Caesar in Egypt

Approved

Giulio Cesare in Egitto | G.F. Händel

Sophie Junker as Cleopatra

Nicholas Tamagna as Tolomeo

FestspielOrchester Göttingen
Göttingen Händelfestspiele 2022 

George Petrou
Music and Stage Direction

Paris Mexis
Stage and Costume Design

Stella Kaltsou
Lighting Design

"Domerò la tua fierezza" from Giulio Cesare in Egitto | Göttingen Händelfestspiele 2022

It was a trio of works in the 1724/25 season that established Handel's unparalleled position among the opera composers of his time. Tamerlano: the radical centrepiece. Rodelinda, re de' Langobardi: the colourfully multifaceted capstone. And both the opening, and the culmination of this radiant chord: Giulio Cesare in Egitto. It is the favourite of many, and is even considered by some as the best of the 42 operas by “Il caro Sassone”, the beloved Saxon – including our Artistic Director George Petrou.

So it is as understandable as it is bold that he is bringing it to the stage already in his first Göttingen Festival season – and that, on both the podium and in the director’s chair. This makes sense in two ways: for one, because Petrou has already staged successful productions such as Alcina, Idomeneo, West Side Story, Kiss Me, Kate and Sweeney Todd as well as operetta and drama, focusing on a musician’s approach to theatre and looking into defining the close bonds between musical dramaturgy and the stage action. For another, because Handel’s fine characterization and the complex psychology of the characters are inextricably interwoven with the compositional dramaturgy.

As understandable as it is bold: such is also the plan that Cleopatra devises to realize her claim to the Egyptian throne which her brother Tolomeo occupies. For this reason, she seduces Caesar into helping her – with sweeping success and lasting consequences for both of them: cunning turns into lust and passion. The Roman ruler also falls in love with her, but finds himself confronted with a bloodthirsty revenge plot. Cornelia and Sesto, wife and son of his slain enemy Pompeo, hold him responsible for the beheading of the rogue commander and plot to take his life ...

100 years after Oskar Hagen rediscovered and resurrected the masterpiece, it is returning in a co-production with the Nederlandse Reisopera to the place where the Handel renaissance in Germany began in the 1920s.

English

Julius Caesar in Egypt by Händel, From (2022/2022), Directed by George Petrou,, Conductor George Petrou, Deutsches Theater Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

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Program, About & Synopsis

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