Following the roaring success of Handel’s Atalanta in 2018 another rare gem of the great master of Baroque opera was staged this summer at the donauFESTWOCHEN (Michi Gaigg, artistic director): Siroe, Re di Persia is stacked with treason, revenge, inheritance disputes and forbidden love, undisputedly a potent cocktail described in Pietro Metastasio’s libretto and first performed by Handel at the Royal Academy of Music in 1728.
We are looking forward to taking up the production again in Halle at the Handel Festival in June 2022.
From the crits:
A worthwhile flight through time […]
Brilliant digital technique, witty, highest musical quality – in short, a must-do!
OÖ Nachrichten, Karin Wagner, 9 August 2021[…] fascinating images, splendid singers […]
Oberösterreichisches Volksblatt, Christine Grubauer, 10 August 2021The L’Orfeo Barockorchester in top form!
Kronenzeitung OÖ, Fred Dorfer, 9 August 2021‘Keep calm and Handel it!’ These were the concluding words to one of the most entertaining and amusing opera productions for ages … the trip to the Strudengau is definitely worth it!
DrehPunktKultur, Horst Reischenböck, 10 August 2021The whole cast were supported by the excellent L’Orfeo Barockorchester (who celebrate their 25th anniversary this year) under the baton of baroque specialist Erich Traxler.
Baroque News, Ruggero Meli, August 2021
George Frideric Handel
Siroe, Re di Persia HWV 24
Opera in three acts
First performance: London, Haymarket Theatre, 17 February 1728
Matthias Helm Cosroe
Clint van der Linde Siroe
Nicholas Hariades Medarse
Annastina Malm Emira
Amelie Müller Laodice
Philipp Kranjc Arasse
L’Orfeo Barockorchester
Erich Traxler conductor
Kobie van Rensburg
Stage direction and video production
donauFESTWOCHEN im Strudengau 2021
Coproduction with the Handel Festival Halle 2022