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Handel’s opera is number-led and consequently the director and singers have to find a way of engaging and holding audience attention whilst performing arias that don’t necessarily forward the action. Nadja Loschky’s production generally achieved that purpose, though sometimes it seemed as though performers were going through the motions rather than being truly emotionally expressive. The staging was modern and stark in basics, with nods to Classical allusions in costume and setting. Loschky kept the narrative clear, but things did grind along at times, and at one point in the first act I felt Morpheus descending and had to remain focussed on the job. Sitting can be very tiring.

Lawrence Zazzo (Giulio Cesare), Nils Wanderer (Tolomeo) & Jarrett Porter (Curio) | Photo: Monika Rittershaus

The two main star singers proved disappointing. I realise that that superstars Senesino and Cuzzoni are long gone and singers who were all the rage in 1724 should perhaps shouldn’t be wheeled out for comparison today, but their reputations still cast long shadows. I suspect that countertenor Lawrence Zazzo’s Giulio Cesare is now just too late in his career. He has a good stage presence, acts with conviction and sings with style (a particularly skilled messa di voce in Act III impressed). But at full throttle his tone is hooty, even strident, and the physical effort of palpable – he was jerky to watch and at times to listen too, with uneven bursts of sound. As Cleopatra, a role and house debut, Pretty Yende was bland until about halfway through. Nothing bad but nothing exciting, her acting slightly inert. Her final aria, ‘Da tempeste il legno infranto’, was like seeing the sun come out after drizzle, the coloratura revealing colours and a connection with role and audience hitherto unsuspected.

Nils Wanderer (Tolomeo) & Cláudia Ribas | Photo: Monika Rittershaus

Nils Wanderer was fun as Tolomeo, his countertenor enjoying some audacious baritone plunges that would have made even the late contralto Eva Podleś gasp. The top of the voice has thrust,the middle is of a lesser cloth and at time disappeared. But he certainly gave the role his excessive all. Božidar Smiljanić relished Achilla’s ‘rage arias’, ripping through them with gusto. Iurii Iushkevich made much of his one aria as Nireno.  All of which left the field open for two triumphs. Firstly, Zanda Švēde as Cornelia, dignified of mien and voice – her tone has a pleasingly grave quality and is evenly produced, and she nailed every aria. As did Bianca Andrew in the more vibrant role of Sesto, a singer with a clear, high-placed mezzo and expressive coloratura. They interacted well as mother and son, and their duet ‘Son nata a lagrima’ at the end of Act I was a moment of delicious repose. The orchestra played well under Simone Di Felice despite a few fluffed brass moments, but the general mood was supportive.

More information on the production can be found here.