Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Giulio Cesare in Egitto, (Julius Caesar in Egypt) HWV 17

Handel's Giulio Cesare is heavily abridged in Sydney, but generally well-performed musically, albeit with a rather awkward staging by Neil Armfield. 

Louise Alder shines as Cleopatra, one of Baroque opera’s greatest creations, in the fourth Glyndebourne revival of Sir David McVicar's much-loved production. 

Top notch singing, judicious pruning and production which prioritises human drama over camp spectacle make for an illuminating take on Handel's most frequently staged opera.

Laurent Pelly's Night in the Museum production of Giulio Cesare is finally staged at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, after its 2020 pandemic cancellation.

The French soprano delivers an A-list performance as the Egyptian queen, donning a variety of Hollywood guises at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

James Conway's production for English Touring Opera returns in a trimmed-down, single-evening guise. 

Carsen's modern mise en scène of Handel's opera did not stand out for originality, but for finesse and elegance and that was substantially appreciated by the audience.

In 1724, Handel's Giulio Cesare was a vehicle for star singers Senesino and Francesca Cuzzoni. Maria Sanner and Lucie Chartin step into their shoes with great success for this Opera North revival. 

Philippe Jaroussky and Emőke Baráth's team-up with the Ensemble Artaserse proved nothing short of wonderful.

Interviewed at the time of this production's first outing, McVicar declared that “Entertainment is not a dirty word”. His Giulio Cesare remains a hugely entertaining opera production.

Anna Devin's Cleopatra moved with complete conviction for scheming minx to mature woman in love.

An outstanding cast under Ottavio Dantone at the Theater an der Wien was headed by Lawrence Zazzo and Emőke Baráth.

Conway's decision to render Handel's epic in its entirety was let down by a static staging and unnecessary repeats that masked the hidden gem-like arias.

Symphonie Altlantique, a period orchestra composed of young professional musicians based in The Hague, gave a very engaging performance of Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. 

Laurent Pelly's production of Giulio Cesare is a play of references to antiquity, heroism and myth. However, it does not thrill. 

Of the seventeen operas Handel wrote to star the Italian castrato Senesino, Giulio Cesare in Egitto is the most popular, and the one performed most often. It is a dramma per musica filled with ironic hints, and based on power and sex intrigues in ancient Rome. The 38-year-old Handel wrote it in England when his imported Italian-style operas started to fall out of favour.

Read our review of David McVicar's production of Handel's Giulio Cesare in its 2013 broadcast from the Met Opera in New York.

David McVicar’s Giulio Cesare is still riotous at the Met, the production having transferred from Glyndebourne. This is a delicious, smart production, then, with interest for the brain, ears, and eyes alike.

The full name of Handel's opera is Giulio Cesare in Egitto: it depicts a historically loose version of Caesar's sojourn in Alexandria, during which Pompey is murdered, Ptolemy is killed in battle and Cleopatra is installed as Queen.

Giulio Cesare, an opera populated with manipulative characters that only interact with each other when shared interests are at stake, is a receptive vessel for a scornful indictment of imperialism and the dubious alliances it forges.

The Roman emperor Julius Caesar’s entanglement with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra is one of the best-known love stories of all time, and the operatic re-telling by George Frideric Handel, with its incredible music and universal themes of war, passion and politics, is experiencing a resurgence.