![]() ![]() Capable performances also came in supporting roles by William Meinert as Curio and Elizabeth Sarian as Nireno.The Atlanta Opera’s ambitious 2022–23 season will mark two milestones in the transformational tenure of Tomer Zvulun: his 10th year as the company’s general and artistic director, and the 50th production he has overseen. And although only one made the libretto cuts for Achilla the production preserved his dramatic arc and his entire final death scene. The six principal singers with arias were well balanced as an ensemble, even though they had different quantities of arias and duets: seven for Cesare, six for Cleopatra, three each for Cornelia and Sesto plus their duet in Act I, three for Tolomeo. ![]() It was part of the genre.Ĭonductor Gary Thor Wedow led the Atlanta Opera Orchestra in a both knowledgeable and pragmatic underscoring of the singing and drama. In typical Baroque fashion, the entire cast (including recently deceased characters) celebrates “love conquers all” and the triumph of good over evil in the finale chorus: “Ritorni omai nel nostro core la bella gioja el il piacer” (“Return now in our hearts the beautiful joy and pleasure”). Cesare, who did not die in battle, returns to welcome Sesto and Cornelia as friends, and he and Cleopatra declare their love for each other. ![]() Sesto restores family honor by successfully killing Tolomeo. The revolve excellent device for making some rapid scene changes. Rotated in another direction, an enclosure, like a room. When turned in one direction, the pyramid presents a broad public staircase to the audience ( see photo below). Alexander Lisiyansky’s set and Erin Teachman’s projections do not attempt any historical purity but take the opera visually “out of time” while abstractly nodding at Ptolemaic Egypt it could have just as easily been a post-Apocalyptic era in the future.Ī giant pyramid-shaped “revolve” (rotating platform), attached to a giant axle and wheel, implies the Egyptian setting but also abstracts a kind of stone mill used in the Hellenic era-and perhaps, one might venture, represent the grinding of forces between Ptolemaic and Roman cultures in the story. The libretto of Nicola Francesco Haym is historical fiction, embellishing the elements of love and intrigues of power for his 18th-century audiences as would a modern Hollywood movie. Portrait of George Frideric Handel (attributed to Balthasar_Denner, ca._1726 – 1728, public domain) All of that means the company is treading new ground. Although Handel’s Orlando had been scheduled for May 2007, that production got canceled due to budget problems and never came to pass. That is, until this past Saturday when it opened its mainstage production of Handel’s Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center.īefore this production, the oldest opera mounted by the company was Gluck’s Orfeo in 2009. Over its nearly 42-year performance history, The Atlanta Opera had never performed a Baroque opera. George Frideric HANDEL: Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) Creative: Alexander Lisyansky, set designer Mattie Ullrich, costume designer Erin Teachman, projections designer Robert Wierzel, lighting designer Donald Byrd, choreographer. Cast: Daryl Freedman (Giulio Cesare), Jasmine Habersham (Cleopatra) Megan Marino (Sesto Pompeo) Renee Tatum (Cornelia) Daniel Moody (Tolomeo) ĭavid Crawford (Achilla) William Meinert (Curio) Elizabeth Sarian (Nireno). Gary Thor Wedow, conductor Tomer Zvulun, stage director. Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Atlanta, GA
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