Devieilhe's Cleopatra reigns in Michieletto's muddled Egyptology show

Sabine Devieilhe (Cleopatra)

Gaëlle Arquez (Giulio Cesare) and Carlo Vistoli (Tolomeo)

Sabine Devieilhe (Cleopatra) and Gaëlle Arquez (Giulio Cesare)

Franco Fagioli (Sesto) and Carlo Vistoli (Tolomeo)

Sabine Devieilhe (Cleopatra) and Carlo Vistoli (Tolomeo)

By Mark Pullinger, 12 May 2022

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“senators circle around Cesare, hinting at his brutal not so happy-ever-after”

Reviewed at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris on 11 May 2022

Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto, (Julius Caesar in Egypt) HWV 17

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

Philippe Jaroussky, Conductor

Damiano Michieletto, Director

Paolo Fantin, Set Designer

Agostino Cavalca, Costume Designer

Alessandro Carletti, Lighting Designer

Ensemble Artaserse

Gaëlle Arquez, Giulio Cesare

Sabine Devieilhe, Cleopatra

Lucile Richardot, Cornelia

Franco Fagioli, Sesto

Carlo Vistoli, Tolomeo

Francesco Salvadori, Achilla

Adrien Fournaison, Curio

Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Nireno

Christof Loy’s understated Werther at the TCE

David Karlin, 22nd March

Massenet’s take on Goethe’s blockbuster novella of unrequited love and suicide is handled with great subtlety by Christof Loy and Marc Leroy-Calatayud. Benjamin Bernheim and Marina Viotti lead a starry vocal cast.

****1

Carry on up the Nile: Handel's Berenice by the Seine

Sandra Bowdler, 21st May

One of Handel's lesser operas receives a deluxe concert performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, with Il Pomo d'Oro and a fine array of singers.

****1

Operetta with teeth: Offenbach’s La Périchole at the TCE

David Karlin, 13th November

Laurent Pelly’s new production combines froth and hilarity with a dark, satirical heart; Marc Minkowski and the orchestra seduce us.

****1

A female voice florilegium: Vivaldi's Juditha triumphans in Paris

Laura Servidei, 11th February

A great performance of Vivaldi's only surviving oratorio, with Marie-Nicole Lemieux as the protagonist, under the baton of Jean-Chirstophe Spinosi.

****1

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées: Catone in Utica

Vesna Gerintes, 10th January

Conductor Alan Curtis and musicologist Alessandro Ciccolini have successfully restored Vivaldi's opera Catone in Utica, and they brought it to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris with a star performance from mezzo Ann Hallenberg.

****1

La possibilité d’une île pour Robinson Crusoé au TCE

Romain Daroles, 3rd December

Si la partition d'Offenbach n'est pas toujours un chef-d'œuvre et a singulièrement vieilli, la direction de Marc Minkowski, la mise en scène de Laurent Pelly et la distribution servent intelligemment cette belle redécouverte.

***11

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Sabine Devieilhe's Cleopatra reigns in Damiano Michieletto's muddled Egyptology show