
Pavel Kudinov
2021Handel: Arminio
George Petrou
Gaia Petrone, Lauren Snouffer
Max Emanuel Cencic excels with his celebrated and award-winning production of George Frideric Handels masterpiece Arminio at the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe. The remarkable counter-tenor Cencic, who dedicates himself to the revival and performance of the music of the 18th century, demonstrates once more that Baroque singing can be both technically brilliant and at the same time modern and emotionally engaging. His enchanting staging of Arminio is the revival of the heroic story. When premiered in 1737 at Londons Covent Garden Arminio strangely received only six performances, despite being praised as a miracle and in every respect excellent and vastly pleasing by contemporaries.
Handel: Arminio
Iolanta / Persephone: Teatro Real
Peter Sellars
Dominique Blanc, Pavel Cernoch
Iolanta is a one act lyric opera, sung in Russian, by Tchaikovsky. Performed in the style of a nineteenth-century Italian melodrama, the scenes have a recitative introduction followed by a single arioso, aria, duet or chorus. Persephone is a three act melodrama, sung in French, by Stravinsky. It is a story of regeneration, symbolised in Sellars use of dancers from the Cambodian dance company, Amrita Performing Arts. Peter Sellars, one of the most innovative creators on today's stage, has linked these two productions by using the same stage setting, instantly archaic yet modern, and lit by rich colours to define the journey from darkness to light.
Iolanta / Perséphone – Teatro Real