G.F.Händel's Ariodante with the La Cetra Barockorchester Basel and Magdalena Kožená.

This time, our homage to Handel is dedicated to his opera "Ariodante" with a cast that is simply phenomenal! Led by the magnificent Magdalena Kožená as the title heroine, these are fantastic singers who perform in all the major opera houses and at important festivals. La Cetra and Andrea Marcon, however, have remained friends for many years and will travel with us through half of Europe with this work after the Basel performance: to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, on to the Halle Handel Festival, to the Theater an der Wien, to Oviedo, to the Teatro Real Madrid - and to the recording studio for a new CD production of this wonderful work!

The subject of "Ariodante" is based on an episode from Ariosto's epic "Orlando furioso". The plot, which for once is not set in Roman antiquity, takes us to the wilds of Scotland. There, the king's daughter Ginevra is condemned to death for slander, from which she can only be saved by a "judgment of God", namely when a knight stands up for her and defeats her accuser in a duel. Are you familiar with this motif from Wagner's "Lohengrin"? Absolutely! And get to know a wildly romantic Handel here... Accordingly, "Ariodante" also differs structurally from most of the composer's opere serie: a strikingly large number of arias and ensembles, numerous choruses and dance scenes arising from the plot as well as dreamy orchestral pieces replace the corset of the strict alternation of da capo arias and show us a completely new side of Handel here.

Magdalena Kožená - Ariodante
Christophe Dumaux - Polinesso
Emiliano Gonzalez Toro - Lurcanio
Shira Patchornik - Dalinda
Eirka Baikoff - Ginerva
José Antonio López - Il re

La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel
Andrea Marcon - Conductor


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