A dusty curio: Handel's Berenice, regina d'Egitto

By Charlotte Valori, 18 March 2016

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“Fabio’s best aria, “Vedi l’ape,” literally buzzes with bees in the strings”

Reviewed at St George's, Hanover Square, London on 17 March 2016

Handel, Berenice, regina d'Egitto

Anat Edri, Alessandro

Charlotte Beament, Berenice

Emma Stannard, Selene

Christopher Turner, Fabio

Timothy Dickinson, Aristobolo

Timothy Morgan, Arsace

Michał Czerniawski, Demetrio

David Bates, Director

La Nuova Musica

Rodolfo Richter, Violin

Myth meets Shoreditch: a rewarding Handel double bill

Dominic Lowe, 29th March

Part of this year's London Handel Festival, Apollo e Dafne and The Choice of Hercules are transported to the stage in a captivating production that blends music and dance.

****1

L’incoronazione di Poppea vividly brought to life at the Grange

David Truslove, 7th June

Terrific music making with a light directorial touch brings mixed results to Monteverdi's 1643 masterpiece.

***11

Handelian labours: Kosky directs Hercules at Komische Oper Berlin

Zenaida des Aubris, 3rd March

Handel's seldom-performed Hercules becomes the latest oratorio to undergo the Kosky treatment at Komische Oper.

****1

Everything leads back to square one in new Orfeo ed Euridice

Zenaida des Aubris, 23rd January

A coherent, modern version of the Orpheus myth from the Italian director at the Komische Oper Berlin.

****1

Rinaldo revived: Glyndebourne tours its school-based Handel opera

Mark Valencia, 26th October

Blazers and breastplates! This Rinaldo is already eight years old! It’s played at the BBC Proms while almost 40 performances have graced Glyndebourne’s festival and tour up to now, so it must be doing something right.

***11

Finely cast Orlando from La Nuova Musica

Nahoko Gotoh, 1st February

Handel’s opera Orlando is famous for the great mad scene at the end of Act 2. Specifically written for the celebrated castrato Senesino, it’s an emotionally powerful ten-minute monologue.

****1

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.