Giulio Cesare

Giulio Cesare
Music by Georg Friedrich Händel

Musical drama in three acts
Libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym
from Giulio Cesare in Egitto by Giacomo Francesco Bussani

Giulio Cesare Raffaele Pe
Cleopatra Marie Lys
Achilla Davide Giangregorio
Cornelia Delphine Galou
Tolomeo Filippo Mineccia
Sesto Federico Fiorio
Nireno Andrea Gavagnin
Curio Clemente Antonio Daliotti

mimes-actors Martina Bassi, Giordano Boschi, Marko Bukaqeja, Stefano Francasi, Letizia Giannoccaro, Santo Marino, Alessandra Martino, Nicolò Matricardi, Luca Montresor, Maya Quattrini, Davide Riboldi.

Harpsichord Director Ottavio Dantone
Direction Chiara Muti
Sets Alessandro Camera
Costumes Tommaso Lagattolla
Light designer Vincent Longuemare

ACCADEMIA BIZZANTINA

NEW PRODUCTION
Alighieri Theatre of Ravenna
In co-production with Teatro Comunale Pavarotti-Freni di Modena, Fondazione Teatri Piacenza, Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Teatro del Giglio di Lucca, Fondazione Haydn di Bolzano and Trento.

GIULIO CESARE: HÄNDEL OPENS THE OPERA SEASON AT THE TEATRO ALIGHIERI IN RAVENNA

A metaphysical space, whose hues recall the gold of the sands and precious metals of Egypt and the enigmatic faces of the pharaohs’ masks: this is how Chiara Muti’s direction envisions the new production of Händel’s Giulio Cesare. Following the 2023 Tamerlano and the 2024 Autumn Trilogy, the successful collaboration with Accademia Bizantina and Ottavio Dantone continues to bring the 17th and early 18th-century melodramatic repertoire, less frequented than that of later centuries, to the stage at Teatro Alighieri.

The role of Giulio Cesare has been entrusted to Raffaele Pe, while Cleopatra is played by Marie Lys. Delphine Galou takes on the role of Pompeo’s wife, Cornelia, while Tolomeo, Cleopatra’s brother and rival for the Egyptian throne, is portrayed by Filippo Mineccia. The cast is completed by Davide Giangregorio as Achilla, Federico Fiorio as Sesto, Andrea Gavagnin as Nireno, and Clemente Antonio Daliotti as Curio. Alessandro Camera designs the sets, Tommaso Lagattolla is responsible for the costumes, and Vincent Longuemare handles the lighting. After its debut in Ravenna, the new production will tour the co-producing theaters – namely Modena, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Lucca, and Bolzano.

“Giulio Cesare is an opera that everyone should know, as it represents the perfect symbiosis between history and myth and the ultimate harmony between music and theater,” declares Ottavio Dantone, who will lead Accademia Bizantina on the harpsichord. “Händel’s masterpiece captivates with its unique variety of timbres and colors: harp, theorbo, viola da gamba, oboes, flute, and horn enrich the orchestra, accompanying the diverse characters. The musically rich content, full of suggestions and extraordinary evocative power, transports us and places us directly within the story as if we were experiencing it personally.”

The baroque Caesar is “a symbol of marble justice and temperance,” emphasizes Chiara Muti. “He has nothing ambivalent and dehumanizes himself to glorify, in the apotheosis of Rome, the virtues of the enlightened monarch,” namely George I and the new reigning Hanover dynasty, to whom the composer intended to pay homage with the opera presented at the King’s Theatre in London in 1724. “Thanks to the intensity of the vocal lines and the chromatic dynamism of the orchestra,” continues the director, “Händel redeems the static nature of the action and enriches the characters with meaning. By delving into the human material and revealing its complexity of contrasts, he offers us moments of such emotional tension that we can say he reached, with music, the heights that Shakespeare touched with words. The direction, validated by the melody, thus bends to the symbolic evocative dimension.”