Bayreuth Festival: Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson’s interpretation of 'Tristan und Isolde' is a well-planned and thoughtful affair.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Act 1) - Ekaterina Gubanova (Brangäne), Andreas Schager (Tristan), Jordan Shanahan (Kurwenal), Camilla Nylund (Isolde), Günther Groissböck (Marke) - Bayreuth Festival, 2025 (Photo: Bayreuther Festspiele / Enrico Nawrath)

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde: Andreas Schager, Günther Groissböck, Camilla Nylund, Jordan Shanahan, Alexander Grassauer, Ekaterina Gubanova; dir: Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson, cond: Semyon Bychkov; Bayreuth Festival
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 3 August 2025 

A fine deuce! Camilla Nylund and Andreas Schager shine in the roles of Tristan and Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival

Based largely on the 12th-century romance, Tristan and Iseult, by Gottfried von Strassburg, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde - widely regarded as the greatest paean to pure erotic love recalling the legendary days of King Arthur - is notable for the composer’s unprecedented use of chromaticism, tonal ambiguity, orchestral colour and harmonic suspension. Wagner’s inspiration for writing it was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer as well as by his love affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of the successful silk merchant, Otto Wesendonck.

While Wagner was working on Der Ring des Nibelungen he was intrigued by the legend of Tristan and Isolde, a tragic tale of forbidden love between Tristan, a Cornish knight and sea captain, and Isolde, an Irish princess. The scenario follows Tristan’s voyage to Ireland returning with Isolde to marry his uncle King Marke of Cornwall against her will. On their journey, Tristan and Isolde consume a love potion - being a daughter of a witch, I guess Isolde was used to potions and suchlike - which ultimately leads to an uncontrollable and passionate love affair leading to tragedy.

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Act 2) - Andreas Schager (Tristan), Camilla Nylund (Isolde) - Bayreuth Festival, 2025 (Photo: Bayreuther Festspiele / Enrico Nawrath)

The opera proved difficult to bring to the stage. Lots do, of course. Alois Ander, employed to sing Tristan, proved incapable of learning the part while parallel attempts to stage it in Dresden, Weimar and Prague came to nothing winning the opera a reputation as unperformable. Even the planned première on 15 May 1865 had to be postponed until Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld had recovered from a throat infection. The opera finally received it première on 10 June 1865 at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater, Munich, with Hans von Bülow conducting and Malvina’s husband, Ludwig, partnering her as Tristan.

Having sung the role only four times, Ludwig died suddenly prompting speculation that the exertion involved in singing the part of Tristan had killed him. The stress of performing Tristan may have also claimed the lives of conductors Felix Mottl in 1911 and Joseph Keilberth in 1968. Both men died after collapsing while conducting the second act which, incidentally, Wagner finished at his home in Venice at Palazzo Giustinian overlooking the Grand Canal.

Eventually, Tristan found ground and was enormously influential to such distinguished composers as Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Richard Strauss and, indeed, Benjamin Britten. In fact, during the playing of the Prelude, my thoughts wandered and caught up with the opening scene of Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier.

Enjoying 32 productions at Bayreuth between 1886 and 2022, this current production of Tristan, which first saw the light of day at last year’s festival thereby marking the 149th anniversary of its world première, fell to Icelandic-born director, Thorliefur Örn Arnarsson, making his début on the Green Hill.

So, too, is Lithuanian set designer and visual artist, Vytautas Narbutas, who created three impressive and imaginative sets fitting so well the overall scenario of such a fine and intriguing production. The conductor for this revival was Semyon Bychkov.

Detect Classic Festival 2025: Exploring 'The Meaning of Live' Music in a Digital Age

Tucked away in the rural quiet of northern Germany, Detect Classic Festival has, over the past few years, established itself as one of the most distinctive events on the European classical music scene. Set against the backdrop of Schloss Bröllin, a 13th-century estate near the German/Polish border hosting artist residencies, the festival brings together contemporary classical, experimental, electronic, and improvised music in a setting that feels as much like a collective experiment as a traditional festival. 

What sets Detect Classic Festival apart isn’t just its genre-fluid line-up or the unconventional performances staged in barns and former stables, it’s the sense of curiosity that runs through everything. Big names appear alongside upcoming artists. Unexpected collaborations unfold. Audiences are encouraged not to consume passively, but to explore, to listen closely, and to be surprised. This year’s edition, taking place August 8-10, revolves around a theme that feels especially timely: The Meaning of Live. In a culture where nearly everything is streamed, captured, and shared, what do we really mean when we talk about live music? What value does it still hold for creators, for listeners, and for our collective cultural life?

To find out more about the ideas driving this year’s edition, we spoke with the festival’s founder, Konstantin Udert, about how Detect Classic Festival began, what it’s become, and why the question of what it means to truly experience music in real time has never felt more urgent.

Detect Classic Festival has developed a unique identity over the years. What originally sparked the idea, and what gaps in the cultural landscape were you hoping to fill when you first created it?

We were fortunate that two things happened at the same time. Firstly, the junge norddeutsche philharmonie was looking at ways of better reaching the orchestra musicians' friends and family as concertgoers. Between 19 and 27 years of age, the orchestra musicians are significantly younger than the average classical concertgoer. Secondly, a Berlin cultural collective had begun to integrate classical music into events and was fascinated by the idea of experiencing a large orchestra at a festival weekend or rave. So it all started with the search for a new audience and artistic interest. These intentions still drive us today!

What makes the setting of Schloss Bröllin so special for the festival?

A Hoffmann to remember: Angela Denoke's production of Offenbach's final masterpiece at Oldenburg Staatstheater with Jason Kim

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann - Dorothee Bienert, Jason Kim - Oldenburgisches Staatstheater

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann: Jason Kim, Dorothee Bienert, Penelope Kendros, Adréana Kraschewski, Raffaela Lintl, Eleonora Fabrizi, Seungweon Lee, dir: Angela Denoke; cond: Vito Cristofaro; Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Oldenburg, Germany
Reviewed 4 May 2025

A production that certainly punched above its weight, Angela Denoke & Vito Cristofaro get so much right, with an ardent Hoffmann from Jason Kim

Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann is such a minefield that there are many ways a director can fall foul. It is certainly not one of those works that plays itself. Even beyond the editorial nightmare that the work represents [see my article 'A fascinating conundrum'], there is the fact that Offenbach habitually over wrote, creating too much material and cutting and shaping at the last minute. So, if we have a musically satisfactory edition (a big ask in the first place), we then have to create a satisfying dramatic structure.

We caught The Tales of Hoffmann at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater partly because our holiday itinerary enabled us too. It took place in the Oldenburg State Theatre, built in 1893 as the Grand Ducal Court Theatre and most recently renovated in 1998. It is a small, but perfectly formed building seating something over 500. But the performance was indeed a welcome treat with a sure hand both in terms of direction and conducting. 

The production debuted on 26 April 2025 and we caught the performance on 4 May 2025. The director was Angela Denoke, the soprano who has recently added direction to her credits, and the conductor was Vito Cristofaro. Jason Kim was Hoffmann with Dorothee Bienert as Niklausse/Muse, Penelope Kendros as Olympia, Adréana Kraschewski as Giulietta, Raffaela Lintl as Antonia, Eleonora Fabrizi as Stella, Seungweon Lee as the four villains, Seumas Beggg as the four comic tenor roles, Arthur Bruce as Schlemihl, Johannes Leander Maaas as Spalanzani and Nathanael, Irakli Atanelishbili as Lutter and Crespel. Designs were by Susana Mendoza with choreography by Fabio Toraldo.

Offenbach: The Tales of Hoffmann - Jason Kim, Penelope Kendros, Dorothee Bienert, Seungweon Lee - Oldenburgisches Staatstheater

The programme book was vague as to exactly what we were hearing though Schott's (publishers of the most recent edition from Kaye & Keck) were credited and indeed textually this was one of the most satisfactory versions that I have seen in a long time with an extremely convincing Giuilietta act. There were discreet cuts, we got rather less of the students (thankfully) than usual. But the outstanding Niklausse/Muse of Dorothee Bienert benefited from an expansive version of her role.

To create modern culture through the thoughts of the past: George Petrou artistic director of the Göttingen International Handel Festival introduces this year's festival

Atsushi Sakai (viola da gamba) and Bruno Helstroffer (theorbo) at PS.Halle, Einbeck for the 2024 Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen

This year's Göttingen International Handel Festival takes place from 16 to 25 May 2025, once more under the artistic directorship of George Petrou, who has extended his contract as director until 2031. This year's theme is fame and honour, power and glory, and the main events at the festival are a new production of Handel's Tamerlano, Handel's oratorio Solomon which will be performed in Göttingen and at the Elbphiharmonie in Hamburg, and a gala concert with the mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg. Tamerlano features Lawrence Zazzo in the title role with Louise Kemény as Asteria, Juan Sancho as Bajazet, and Yuriy Mynenko as Andronico, whilst Solomon features Lena Sutor-Wernich in the title role and Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli in the three soprano roles plus James Way as Zadok.

George Petrou (Photo: FreddieF)

But there is lots more Handel in the festival as well, and concerts showcasing what George Petrou refers to as their wonderful orchestra, the FestspielOrchester Göttingen. There is ensemble freymut in Couperin's Les Nations, the Calmus Ensemble exploring both Byrd and birds, Mayumi Hirasaki, Christoph Dangel and Kristian Bezuidenhout in a chamber music tour of Italy, viol virtuoso Hille Perl and her period instrument ensemble Los Otros take us to the French court, Tra Noi give us music from those in the circle of Cardinal Ottoboni including of course George Frideric, but also Domenico Scarlatti, Arcangelo Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Antonio Caldara and Antonio Vivaldi. The festival's former artistic director, Nicholas McGegan returns to celebrate his 75th birthday and amongst the lunchtime concerts there is the chance to heard George Petrou displaying his keyboard skills. There is also the excitement of the eighth annual Göttingen Handel Competition which invites young ensembles from around the world to compete.

In addition to various venues in Göttingen, a number of events will also take place in the region of southern Lower Saxony, in Duderstadt, Friedland, Scheden, Einbeck, Herzberg am Harz and Hann. Münden, and we know from our experiences last year that many of these places are visually and historically engaging too.

The choice of works is partly the way things worked out and partly deliberate choice. Last year, the festival presented a modern pasticcio, Sarasine, as the main operatic work. The idea was to create a drama our of the various arias rejected by Handel which were never revised or recycled. This was something of a novelty, an experiment and this year George Petrou felt it would be good to go back to one of Handel's major operas. For George, Tamerlano stands above everything that Handel did and its dramatic approach goes beyond the 18th century, looking forward to operatic developments in the 19th century. The big dramatic scene at the end of Act Three, when Bajazet dies on stage in front of the other protagonists, does not recur in Handel's later operas, and both the dramatic approach and sound-world look forward to Romantic opera. For George, this is genius at its best, eternal and not restricted to one era. And for this years opera, not only are they returning to Handelian basics but presenting one of his crowning achievements.

Göttingen 1853: Johannes Brahms & Joseph Joachim, a meeting of musical minds evoked

Aula of Georg-August Universität, Göttingen  (Photo: Stefan Flöper / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Bach, Joachim, Mozart, Handel, Beethoven;  Shunske Sato, Shuann Chai, Wolfgang Sandberger; Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen at Aula of Georg-August Universität
Reviewed 13 May 2024

Brahms and Joseph Joachim spent a musical Summer together in 1853 in Göttingen and this event imaginatively evoked the music those two young men played together

In 1853, 20-year-old Johannes Brahms was hired as a pianist by Hungarian violinist Eduard Remeny for a concert tour. In mid-May they are in Hanover and visit violinist Joseph Joachim, the 22-year-old concert-master of the Hanover Court Orchestra. Joachim used his concert-free Summer months to improve his education by attending lectures at the university in Göttingen (then part of the Kingdom of Hanover). When Brahms and Remeny parted company, Brahms wrote to Joachim suggesting a visit and for one month during the Summer, Brahms stayed with Joachim in Göttingen and the two young men made music togethere.

At the Internationale Händel Festspiele Göttingen, the event Göttingen 1853: On the trail of Joseph Joachim on 13 May 2024 evoked that musical meeting. In the Aula of Georg-August Universität, Shunske Sato (violin) and Shuann Chai (piano) played the Chaconne from Bach's Partita No. 2, Joachim's Romanze Op.2 No. 1, Mozart's Sonata in B K454, Handel's Sonata in A K 361 and Beethoven's Sonata No. 47 in A "Kreuzer/Bridgetower", whist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sandberger gave a talk on the subject.

Without a shadow of doubt, a brilliant programme all round: Sibelius, Prokofiev & Saariaho in Berlin with Jan Lisiecki, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Tarmo Peltokoski

Jan Lisiecki (Photo: Christoph Köstlin/Deutsche Grammophon)

Kaija Saariaho: Ciel d’hiver (Winter sky), Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite; Jan Lisiecki, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, cond. Tarmo Peltokoski; Philharmonie, Berlin
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 23 March 2024

Helsinki-born composer, Kaija Anneli Saariaho’s Ciel d’hiver made a great contribution to Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester’s concert at the Philharmonie, Berlin

Whilst taking a break from Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Ring cycle at Staatsoper Berlin [see Tony's review], I took in a concert by Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, at the Philharmonie in a well-planned programme comprising Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor with soloist Jan Lisiecki, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite and a piece by the Helsinki-born composer, Kaija Saariaho, entitled Ciel d’hiver (Winter sky).

In fact, the concert opened with Ciel d’hiver. And being not too familiar with Saariaho’s music, I soon discovered that she was a prolific and futuristic writer who penned a trio of compositions employing ‘live’ electronics: Ververdungen, an interplay between orchestra and tape, came in 1984 followed by Du Cristal 1989 and …à la Fumée a year later, thereby proudly stamping her credentials on the Finnish contemporary music scene.

Revisiting Staatsoper Berlin’s Ring cycle proved a thrilling experience: Dmitri Tcherniakov's production returns to Unter den Linden with conductor Philippe Jordan

Wagner: Das Rheingold - Staatsoper Berlin, 2022 (Photo: Monika Rittershaus)

Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelungen; Tomasz Konieczny, Rolando Villazón, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Robert Watson, Vida Miknevičiūtė, René Pape, Claudia Mahnke, Anja Kampe, Andreas Schager, Stephan Rügamer, dir: Dmitri Tcherniakov; Staatskapelle Berlin, cond: Phillipe Jordan; Staatsopernchor, dir: Dani Juris, Staatsoper Berlin, Germany
Reviewed by Tony Cooper, 26 March 2024

True to form, Dmitri Tcherniakov drifts miles away from Wagner’s original intentions but, nonetheless, comes up with an interesting and extremely rewarding production

The current Ring at Staatsoper Berlin came into being in October 2022 directed by Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov due to be conducted by Daniel Barenboim. Sadly, though, Maestro Barenboim, had to pull out of the production because of severe health issues, a great blow to all but so disappointing for Barenboim in his 80th year.

All change, please! Therefore, it’s musical chairs at Staatsoper with Maestro Barenboim, who has held the post of General Music Director since 1992 relinquishing it in September of this year giving way to Chrisitan Thielemann, who comes from the post of chief conductor of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden while at the same time Elisabeth Sobotka takes up the post of artistic director succeeding Matthias Schulz who moves over to Zürich.

However, I was tremendously pleased to attend the première of Tcherniakov’s Ring and I’m pleased as punch to be back at Staatsoper’s inviting and beautiful Palladian-style theatre on Unter den Linden inhaling once more Tcherniakov’s outstanding and thought-provoking Ring cycle.

This time round, though, the baton falls to Swiss-born conductor, Philippe Jordan. No stranger to the Ring, he worked as assistant to Jeffrey Tate on his cycle at the Châtelet, Paris and conducted the complete cycle in his home city of Zürich in 2008.

Interestingly, Maestro Jordan also acted as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim at Deutsche Oper Berlin in 1998 whom he described as 'the greatest musician alive. I learned a lot from him probably most of the things I know today'. Praise, indeed!

And no stranger to Staatsoper Berlin either, Tcherniakov worked with Barenboim on Tristan und Isolde in 2018 and, a year later, on Prokofiev's Betrothal in a Monastery. But this is his first Ring which follows hard on the heels of Deutsche Oper Berlin's new cycle, first seen in 2022, too, directed by Norwegian director, Stefan Herheim. He's another newcomer to Wagner's epic tetralogy who, incidentally, was a disciple of Götz Friedrich, a formidable and well-respected director and, indeed, a Ring superstar!

Ring cycles, it seems, are pasted all over the European cultural landscape outside of Deutschland and one that grabs my attention has been unfolding at La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, one of my favourite European houses. They're well into their new cycle conducted by Alain Altinoglu and directed by Romeo Castellucci. Das Rheingold arrived last year, Die Walküre was seen earlier this year and Siegfried comes to the stage in September followed by Götterdämmerung in January 2025.

The end of the Gods and, indeed, the end of Intendant, Peter de Caluwe, who quietly fades into a well-earned retirement after batting a superb innings knocking up 18 years. His replacement, 58-year-old Christina Scheppelmann, arrives from Seattle Opera early in 2026. Time flies!

From forgotten arias in a pasticcio based on Balzac's Sarrasine to a forgotten instrument: Göttingen International Handel Festival announces the 2024 programme under George Petrou

George Petrou (Photo: Alciro Theodoro Da Silva)

The Göttingen International Handel Festival dates right back to the 1920s and though styles have changed the festival has always been notable for new ideas and new thinking about 18th century music. This year's festival under artistic director George Petrou has just been announced. Running from 9 to 20 May 2024 under the title Kaleidescope, the festival features not only music by Handel and his contemporaries, but modern reflections too, as Petrou wants the programme to bridge the gap between the 18th and 21st centuries, revealing the gap between Handel's music and the pressing issues of our time.

The opera staging this year focuses not on one of Handel's operas but on arias discarded by the composer, usually for dramaturgical reasons. George Petrou has fashioned a pasticcio using these arias with a plot based on Balzac's novella, Sarrasine about the sculptor Sarrasine's love for a singer, Zambinella, regarding her as his ideal woman but who proves to be a castrato performing female roles. Counter-tenor/sopranist Samuel Marino as Zambinella. The production is directed by Laurence Dale and George Petrou conducts.

Before the festival proper there is a pre-opening tempter, former festival artistic director Nicholas McGegan conducts the NDR Radiophilharmonie in Handel's early oratorio Deborah. Then the festival proper opens with Handel's Italian oratorio, Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with Petrou conducting the festival orchestra and counter-tenor Xavier Sabata as Disinganno, whilst later comes Israel in Egypt.

Modern reflections include Handel on the saxophone with Lutz Koppetsch, Michel Godara playing that rare instrument, the serpent, jazz singer Efrat Afony, alongside performances from more well-known names including Andrew Foster-Williams, Emoke Barath, Ruby Hughes and Juan Sancho. And of course, there is the festival's Handel competition too.

Full details from the festival website.

Tragédie lyrique given with great sympathy and style: Passion from Véronique Gens with Les Surprises, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

Passion - Véronique Gens, Les Surprises, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: bayreuth.media)

Passion: Lully, Henry Desmarest, André Cardinal Destouches, Rebel, Charpentier; Véronique Gens, Les Surprises,  Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at Ordenskirche St Georgen

Immense style and mesmerising performances in the wonderful selection of music from tragédies lyriques by Lully and his contemporaries

Véronique Gens recorded her programme Passion with Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas and Les Surprises in 2021. It is an exploration of music written for two singers who inspired Lully, Mademoiselle Saint Christophe and Marie Le Rochois, focussing on music by Lully and his younger contemporaries.

Véronique Gens, Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas and Les Surprises brought Passion to the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and performed it on Sunday 10 September 2023 in the splendour of the Ordenskirche St Georgen, Bayreuth. Véronique Gens was joined by an instrumental ensemble of eleven, directed from the harpsichord and organ by Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas with a vocal ensemble of five.

Divided into five acts, each with a theme, the programme explored Lully's music from Persée, Proserpine, Armide, Atys, Amadis, Alceste along with his dance music, plus Henry Desmarest's Circé and La Diane de Fontainebleau, André Cardinal Destouches' Les Elements, Pascal Collasse's Achille et Polyxène and Thétis et Pélée, Rebel's Le Ballet de la Paix and Charpentier's Médée. Each act flowed continuously in the manner of a tragédie lyrique, with Gens' solos focusing on a series of strong women.

From Purcell and Handel to Ignatius Sancho and Duke Ellington: American countertenor Reginald Mobley at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

Christine Plubeau, Violaine Cochard, Reginald Mobley - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo Bayreuth.Media)

Purcell, Handel, Ignatius Sancho; Reginald Mobley, Violaine Cochard, Christine Plubeau; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Schlosskirche, Bayreuth
9 September 2023

Dramatically engaging Handel cantatas alongside discoveries of music by Ignatius Sancho, plus Duke Ellington meets notes inégales

The American countertenor Reginald Mobley made his German debut at a concert on Saturday 9 September 2023 in the restrained 18th-century splendour of the Schlosskirche in Bayreuth as part of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival. Mobley was joined by harpsichordist Violaine Cochard and viola da gamba player Christine Plubeau for a programme of music by Purcell, Handel and Ignatius Sancho. The three performers performed the same programme earlier this year, when Reginald Mobley made his solo debut in Paris.

We began with Purcell's O Solitude, taken at quite a steady tempo. Mobley was warmly expressive, making much of the words yet providing a richer coloured sound than is often found in this repertoire, with an intriguing expressive use of the change between middle and chest registers. Crown the altar from Celebrate this Festival Z 321 (the 1693 birthday ode for Queen Mary) was lively with the accompaniment bringing out the French influence in Purcell's music, over which Mobley's voice flowed with an easy fluidity. Here the deities approve from Welcome to all the pleasure Z 339 (the 1683 ode to St Cecilia) was poised and strong, followed by a solo piece for the instrumentalists with a singing viola da gamba line leading to imaginative divisions.

Extravagantly theatrical: Handel's Flavio revived by Bayreuth Baroque in the splendour of the 18th-century theatre

Handel: Flavio - Rémy Brès-Feuillet (in bath), Yuriy Mynenko - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Clemens Manser)

Handel: Flavio; Julia Lezhneva, Max Emanuel Cencic, Monika Jägerová,  Yuriy Mynenko, Rémy Brès Feuillet, director: Max Emanuel Cencic, Concerto Köln, conductor Benjamin Bayl; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Margravial Opera House, Bayreuth
Reviewed 9 September 2023

An undeserved Handel rarity in a lavish production highlighting the historical background and managing to combine comic and serious

Having revived a real rarity in Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie in 2022 [see my review], the 2023 Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival opened with, if not a rarity, a work from the Handelian fringes. Handel wrote Flavio for the end of the 1722/23 season, a season that had included the premiere of Handel's Ottone and the sensational London debut of soprano Francesca Cuzzoni. Flavio, which starred Cuzzoni alongside castrato Senesino, received eight performances, and was revived by Handel in 1732. Then it was never performed until 1967 in Göttingen, since when there have been occasional revivals including the Irish Opera Theatre Company in the 1990s and English Touring Opera in 2009 (both productions directed by James Conway).

We caught the second performance, on Saturday 9 September 2023, of Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival's production of Handel's Flavio at the Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth directed Max Emanuel Cencic and conducted by Benjamin Bayl with Concerto Köln in the pit. Sets were by Helmut Stürmer with costumes by Corina Grämosteanu and lighting by Romain De Lagarde. Max Emanuel Cencic took the Senesino role of Guido with Julia Lezhneva in the Cuzzoni role of Emilia. Yuriy Mynenko was Vitige, Monika Jägerová was Teodata, Rémy Brès Feuillet was Flavio with Sreten Manojlovic and Fabio Trümpy as Lotario and Ugone.

Handel: Flavio - Julia Lezhneva, Max Emanuel Cencic - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Falk von Traubenberg)

Handel's taste in opera was always more varied than that of his patrons and he seems to have had a fondness for that Venetian-style opera mixing comedy and tragedy. During his period at the Royal Academy of Music in the 1720s he tried and failed to persuade his backers to produce Partenope (which he would finally do when he became his own master). His librettist, Nicola Haym seems to have played cello in performances of Flavio in Rome in the 1690s and this may be the origin of Handel's idea to stage it. Flavio is something of a surprise alongside the heroic tragedies of the 1720s. Mixing comedy, pathos and sentimentality with satire and real tragedy, it is a pacey, short piece that pokes fun at opera seria itself.

Operatic arias & overtures by Frederick the Great's court composer, Graun, in the opera house built by the king's sister

Carl Heinrich Graun

Carl Heinrich Graun: opera arias; Valer Sabadus, {oh!} Orkiestra, Martyna Pastuszka; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Margravial Opera House
Reviewed 8 September 2023

Exploring the entirety of Graun's career in Berlin, this evening of opera overtures and arias from the Romanian-German counter-tenor and Polish orchestra gave us a welcome chance to explore Graun's late-Baroque stye

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) had a long and fruitful artistic partnership with King Frederick the Great of Prussia. Graun wrote the music for Frederick's marriage celebrations in 1733, taking up a position at the then Crown Prince's rather limited court in 1735 (Frederick was kept on quite a short rein by his father, King Frederick William I).  Things blossomed in 1740 when Frederick became king and sought to re-established Italian opera in Berlin. Whilst Frederick sanctioned the use of 'singing capons', he preferred a more naturalistic stye and Graun's Berlin operas can been seen, with those of Jomelli, to be important experiments in the move towards Reform espoused by Gluck and Calzabigi.

It was thus apposite that the second event of this year's Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival on 8 September 2023 turned its focus to Graun with an evening of Graun's operatic music performed in the Margravial Opera House, (built by King Frederick the Great's sister, Wilhelmine) by Romanian-German counter-tenor Valer Sabadus with {oh!} Orkiestra directed from the violin by Martyna Pastuszka. We heard music from Rodelinda, premiered in 1741 before there was even a new opera house in Berlin, through Cesare e Cleopatra, which inaugurated the Berlin State Opera (Königliche Hofoper) in 1742, to Montezuma from 1755 with a libretto by Frederick the Great himself.

Graun: opera arias - Valer Sabadus, {oh!} Orkiestra, Martyna Pastuszka - Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (Photo: Clemens Manser)

Ein Sommernachtstraum in Essen: Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel & Wilhelm Hensel

Ein Sommernachtstraum - Felix Mendelssohn, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel; Jacquelyn Wagner, Valentina Stadler, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Jérémie Rhorer; Philharmonie Essen

An imaginative evening combining music by Felix and Fanny with the texts that inspired them, along with the magical timbres and textures of the period instruments.

Beginning our journey to Berlin and Hannover with a stop over in Essen to visit the Folkwang Museum, we happened upon an imaginative concert given at the Philharmonie Essen on Sunday 21 May 2023 by Jérémie Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. The centrepiece of the concert was Mendelssohn's overture and incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream (Ein Sommernachtstraum). Rhorer and Le Cercle de l'Harmonie were joined by soprano Jacquelyn Wagner, mezzo-soprano Valentina Stadler, members of the Aalto Kinderchores and the Women's Choir of the Philharmonic Choir, Essen, plus actor Wolfram Koch. The remainder of the programme focussed on the idea of music and telling tales, with Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's Szene aus 'Faust II' from 1843, and her Hero und Leander from 1831.

For A Midsummer Night's Dream Wolfram Koch gave us not a plot summary but speeches from the play, whilst before each of the works in the first half we heard extracts from the works by classic German authors that inspired the music, Grillparzer, Goethe and Schiller.  The result was to place the siblings' musical inspiration rather more firmly in a literary context than usual.

Flavio, Orfeo and more: Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival announces its 2023 programme

Leonardo Vinci: Alessandro nell'Indie - Jake Arditti, Franco Fagioli & Mayan Licht at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in 2022 (Photo Falk von Traubenberg)

Last September we finally made it to Bayreuth for Max Emanuel Cencic's Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival which takes place in the 18th century splendour of the Margravial Opera House. Last year, the focus of the festival was the first modern revival of Leonardo Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie in a spectacular production that recreated the premiere's use of male singers for both male and female roles [see my review].

The programme for the 2023 Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival has now been announced and the festival, which takes place from 7 to 17 September 2023 will, for the first time, have two staged operas. There will be a new production of Handel's Flavio, Re de' Longobardi, directed by Max Emanuel Cencic with Julia Lezhneva, Max Emanuel Cencic, Yuriy Mynenko, Sonja Runje, Rémy Brès-Feuillet and Sreten Manojlovic. Benjamin Bayl will direct from the harpsichord with Concerto Köln, the resident orchestra at the festival. Flavio dates from 1723 and was the composers fourth full-length opera for the Royal Academy of Music. Unusually concise for the period, the opera is an interesting mix of tragedy and comedy.

Alongside this will be a production of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, originally seen at the Athens Megaron in 2017 as part of the celebrations for the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi's birth. The production combines Monteverdi with new music, transcriptions and live electronics by Panos Iliopoulos, all a conception of music director Markellos Chryssicos. Directed by Thanos Papakonstantinou, the production features Rolando Villazón as Orfeo.

Recitals include counter-tenor Valer Sabadus in arias by Carl Heinrich Graun with {oh!} Orkiestra, soprano Véronique Gens in Passion with Ensemble Les Surprises with music by Lully, Henry Desmarest, André Cardinal Destouches, Pascal Collasse and François Rebel, counter-tenor Bruno de Sá explores arias from the Neapolitan school with nuovo barocco and tenor Daniel Behle presents arias from the second half of the 18th century that have remained unheard since the time of their composition 

Full details from the festival website.

Celebrating 40 years on stage, Max Emanuel Cencic performs a programme of arias Handel wrote for the castrato Senesino

George Frideric Handel: arias and overtures from Giulio Cesare, Radamisto, Poro, Ricardo Primo, Orlando, Tolomeo and Ezio; Max Emanuel Cencic, Armonea Atenea, George Petrou; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus
10 September 2022

Amazingly, counter-tenor Max Emanuel Cencic is celebrating 40 years on stage; he started very young, he is now in his mid-40s. Initially a boy treble whose repertoire included the Queen of the Night's aria, as an adult he sang as a high counter-tenor in the soprano range before retraining to sing alto and mezzo-soprano roles. His Handel explorations have been wide-ranging and for the Saturday evening gala (10 September 2022) at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth, Max Emanuel Cencic performed a programme of Handel arias written for the great alto castrato Senesino. The concert took place on the set of Leonardo Vinci's Alessandro nell'Indie [see my review], in Prinny's red and gold Gothick drawing room, and Cencic was joined on stage by George Petrou and Armonia Atenea. We heard overtures from Radamisto, Giulio Cesare and Tolomeo, plus arias from Giulio Cesare, Radamisto, Poro, Ricardo Primo, Orlando, Tolomeo and Ezio. 

Couperin's Trois Leçons de Ténèbres pour le Mercredi Saint at Bayreuth Baroque

Ordenskirche St Georgen, Bayreuth

Couperin: Trois Leçons de Ténèbres pour le Mercredi Saint;  Chantal Santon, Marie Théoleyre, Loris Barrucand, François Gallon; Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival at Ordenskirche St Georgen
Reviewed 10 September 2022 (★★★★)

Wonderfully idiomatic performances of Couperin's surviving lessons bringing out the rhetorical aspect of the music

Saturday afternoon's concert (10 September 2022) at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival took place in the Ordenskirche St Georgen in what is now Bayreuth St Georgen, a suburb. But in the early 18th century it was to be planned new town surrounding a palace by an artificial lake, which had been created in the 17th century so the then Margrave could sail his model boats. It wasn't finished and the palace became a prison. The church, however, is glorious; almost square, galleried and delightfully elaborate. Completed in 1711, it was the church for the Margrave's order of knighthood, the Ordre de la Sincérité. 

The concert took us to the France contemporary with the church, as Chantal Santon (soprano), Marie Théoleyre (soprano), Loris Barrucand (organ) and François Gallon (cello) performed Couperin's Trois Leçons de Ténèbres pour le Mercredi Saint. Written for performance in the Abbaye royale de Longchamp in 1714 they were originally part of a group, but the other two sets of lessons for Thursday and Friday have alas been lost. Illness had forced a change of cast with Chantal Santon stepping in, but you couldn't tell.

The performers gave us an affecting sequence of 18th century French music, but frustratingly not everything was specified, and I am not sure which singer sang which lesson. So we began with two unaccompanied, invisible voices as if from the heavens, singing I think, part of Couperin's third lesson. Then an organ prelude leading into the first lesson, for solo soprano, organ and cello. Though her diction was not quite crisp, it was good to have a native French speaker singing the French-inflected Latin. Her voice had an attractive richness to it, with an expressive use of vibrato.

The Trocs go to the opera? Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie with five counter-tenors at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

Leonardo Vinci: Alessandro nell'Indie - Jake Arditti & dancers (Photo Falk von Traubenberg)

Leonardo Vinci: Alessandro nell’Indie; Franco Fagioli, Bruno de Sà, Jake Arditti, Maayan Licht, Stefan Sbonnik, Nicholas Tamagna, director: Max Emanuel Cencic, (oh!) Orkiestra, music director: Martyna Pastuszka; Bayreuth Baroque Festival at the Markgräfliches Opernhaus Bayreuth
Reviewed 9 September 2022 (★★★★★)

A brilliantly theatrical and superbly sung re-imagining of an opera seria reflecting the work’s premiere by an all-male cast
 

Max Emanuel Cencic’s Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival takes place in and around the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth, the restored 18th century theatre in Bayreuth, originally built by Wilhelmine, Margravine of Bayreuth and sister to Frederick the Great. A striking and handsome building, one of the biggest theatres in Germany at the time, the festival enables it to be used for the staging of 18th century opera.
 

The auditorium of the Markgräfliches Opernhaus, Bayreuth (Photo Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung)

This year the focus was on Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie written for Rome in 1730 and though it was popular it was probably never performed after 1740. The opera was the first setting of Metastasio’s early (and also very popular) libretto, which Handel would transform into Poro. As the premiere of Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie was in Rome, the female roles were all taken by castrati, something that happened in Continental Europe but never in England. This production at Bayreuth reflected this with both female characters being played by counter-tenors and this ethos extended to the dance troupe where four of the men performed in (very convincing) drag.
 

Max Emanuel Cencic directed Leonardo Vinci’s Alessandro nell’Indie (seen 9 September 2022) with Franco Fagioli as Poro, Bruno de Sà as Cleofide (female), Jake Arditti as Erissena (female), Maayan Licht as Alessandro, Stefan Sbonnik as Gandarte, Nicholas Tamagna as Timagene, with (oh!) Orkiestra directed from the violin by Martyna Pastuszka. Set design was by Domenico Franchi, costumes by Giuseppe Palella, lighting by David Debrinay and choreography by Sumon Rudra.