Nice Opera to Stage Handel’s Orlando

GILLY LLOYD9 July, 20264 Mins read155

Georg Friedrich Handel’s opera, Orlando, is to be staged by Nice Opera at the end of September, in a new co-production with Opéra de Lausanne and Théâtre de La Maestranza de Séville.

It stars counter tenor Rémy Brès Feuillet in the title role, Cristina Pasaroiu as Angelica, the pagan princess with whom he’s fallen in love, and Fernando Escalona as Medoro, with whom Angelica is in love. Also in the cast are the shepherdess, Dorinda, sung by Emilie Rose Bay, and the magician Zoroastro, a role sung by Joan Martin-Royo. Jean-Christophe Spinosi is the conductor, and Mariame Clément is the director.

Orlando (HWV 31) is a three-act opera seria (an opera with noble and serious themes popular during the 1700s), written for the King’s Theatre, London in 1732. The libretto in Italian was adapted from Carlo Sigismondo Capece’s L’Orlando after Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, which was also the source of Handel’s operas Alcina and Ariodante.

The opera was given its first performance at the King’s Theatre in London on 27 January 1733. There were 10 performances and it was not revived. The first production since Handel’s lifetime was given at Halle, Handel’s birthplace, in 1922, and the first modern production was at the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon, on 6 May 1959.

The synopsis is simple. Orlando, a great soldier in Charlemagne’s army, falls desperately in love with the pagan princess Angelica, who is in turn in love with another man, Medoro. Orlando cannot accept this and he is driven to madness, prevented only from causing absolute carnage by the magician Zoroastro, who eventually restores his sanity.

^{Video via Rémy Brès-Feuillet on YouTube}

Rémy Brès Feuillet, of whom Diapason writes “…. combines poise and elegance, crowned with a ‘regal’ vocal projection – not to mention a commanding stage presence that commands admiration”, has recently portrayed Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Opéra national de Paris, Tolomeo in the same opera, at Rome Opera, Leipzig Opera and in Bolzano. He has also appeared in the title role in Handel’s Flavio at the Bayreuth Baroque Festival, and is regularly invited by ensembles such as Il Pomo d’Oro, Ensemble Matheus, Le Banquet Céleste, and La Palatine.

Following a recent performance, Opera Online wrote: “The young French countertenor is the true revelation of the evening. His middle register is superb, his high notes divine, and his lower range sublime. Every appearance leaves a lasting impression.”

His future engagements include the title role in Handel’s Rinaldo at the Theater an der Wien, Nireno in Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Opera Royale de Versailles and Nireno at Leipzig Opera.

^{Video via AntoNetta on YouTube}

Following her performance of Rusalka, Le Point wrote of Cristina Pasaroiu, she “…. is exceptional. Not only does her rich, bronze-toned voice effortlessly follow every nuance of the character’s soul, but her deep commitment is truly admirable. She is a complete artist, an outstanding singer, and a natural-born actress”.

Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata and Mimì in Puccini’s La boheme are two of the roles Cristina Pasaroiu has performed most often. Further roles in her repertoire include the title role Alcina, Elettra in Mozart’s Idomeneo, Contessa in Le nozze di Figaro, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title roles in Puccini’s Norma and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello and Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.

Following her performance in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Financial Times wrote: “The star of the evening, though, is undoubtedly Cristina Pasaroiu, embodying all of Hoffmann’s loves. She pings out Olympia’s top notes fearlessly, is spirited as the Venetian courtesan Giulietta and finds moving lyrical warmth as the tragic Antonia, condemned to sing herself to death”.

^{Video via Fernando Escalona – Contre-ténor on YouTube}

Fernando Escalona recently performed the role of Nero in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Opéra de Dijon and the Théâtre de l’Athénée in Paris, then as Arnalta in the same opera at the Teatro Julio Santo Domingo in Bogotá. He also appeared as Licida in Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at at Nice Opera and the Wolf in Mendonca’s La petite fille, le loup et le chasseur at the Amphithéâtre Bastille. Webtheatre referred to his “Exceptional ease as Nero, (in L’Incoronazione di Poppea) – sybaritic and irascible, devious and sensual. The voice, the style, the acting, everything is there”.

Alongside his operatic career, he is assistant vocal coach with the Simón Bolivar National Choir of Venezuela, of which he is a founding member and with which he has toured internationally.

Also in the cast are Emilie Rose Bry as Dorinda and Joan Martin-Royo as Zoroastro.

Decor and costumes are by Kaspar Glarner, lighting by Valerio Tiberi and video by Gianfranco Bianchi.

Jean-Christophe Spinosi leads the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra, with the participation of the Ensemble Matheus in four performances of Handel’s Orlando between September 30th and October 6th at Nice Opera. Further information and details of booking can be found on the Nice Opera website.