Organization

Stage director

Martina Veh

Conductor

Hans Huyssen

Singer

Soprano

Stephanie Krug

Cleopatra

Countertenor

Franziska Weber

Sesto

Contralto

Martina Koppelstetter

Cornelia

Joël Vuik

Tolomeo

Bass

Joel Frederiksen

Achilla

Christopher Robson

Nireno

Nikolaus Maier

Curio

Milena Bischoff

Lena Spohn

Julius Caesar

Set designer

Stefan Wintersberger

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Wieland Müller-Hasslinger

Director/Evening Director

Susanne Barta

Così facciamo

Orchestra

così facciamo

Others

Ensemble for Early music Neu così facciamo

Neu così facciamo

Jazz Ensemble

Italian

Giulio Cesare in Egitto -  (Julius Caesar in Egypt)

Wolfenbüttel

Germany

Lessingtheater

Munich

Cuvilliés-Theater

Aschaffenburg

Stadttheater Aschaffenburg

Giulio Cesare in Egitto Händel

Public

Julius Caesar in Egypt

Approved

If Giulio Cesare is Handel's most popular and therefore most-performed opera today, it is probably due to the subject of the exotic love affair between Caesar and Cleopatra, which always arouses lively public interest. The fact that the opera is also a compositional masterpiece and contains some of Handel's catchiest and most challenging arias makes its realization all the more appealing. The fact that the context and the location of the plot (Egypt occupied by Rome around 50 BC) also offers an opportunity to think about orientalism and colonization makes it an irresistibly topical lesson in our times (unfortunately again).
Although historical figures and exotic locations are characteristic of 18th-century libretti, they ultimately only serve as a non-binding framework for describing variations on an always the same, moralizing, didactic, European heroic epic: a long-suffering one, but endowed with virtue, patience, and courage Hero finally overcomes all cruel adversaries and strokes of fate. Operas of this type are only performed today because some composers managed to subversively turn this schema upside down and transform stereotypical stage figures into comprehensible feeling and experiencing individuals by means of nuanced musical characterizations. Handel is at the fore here. His gift for certain moods, dramatic situations,
In the meantime, however, a further political-performance-practical intervention has become necessary. Just as Handel transforms distant and unfamiliar historical figures into close, familiar ones, it is now time to integrate distant and supposedly exotic locations into one's own world of experience in order not to fall into the pitfalls - even if only out of misunderstood fidelity to the work of an orientalism that is no longer tenable. Our production therefore places the action in the roaring twenties of the last century, in an ambience characterized by Egyptomania, the Jazz Age, Egypt's finally achieved independence and an openness to the collision of diverse cultural currents. It is by no means a matter of falsifying or distorting the score,

English

Giulio Cesare in Egitto (2022)
Dramma per musica in tre atti

Music: George Frideric Handel (HWV 17), libretto: Bussani / Haym

Staged new production of the Ensemble così facciamo on period instruments with spirituals, blues & jazz by Georg Gershwin


Giulio Cesare in Egitto (London 1724) — »Cafe Nireno« at the end of the world!

Jazz, drugs, sex and war business, filled with life, emotions and intrigues at every moment!
In Cairo in the 20s, the world powers collide in a confined space. Images of the enemy are solidified, foreignness and megalomania, the conquest of the unknown and the deep human desire for domination, love and recognition pave their way. The rise and fall of a world empire are always close together – everything has its price! (Martina Veh)

Deutsch

Julius Caesar in Egypt by Händel, From (2022/2022), Directed by Martina Veh,, Conductor Hans Huyssen, Stadttheater Aschaffenburg, Aschaffenburg, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues