Edouard Brane

Politics, violence, romance, comedy, and high drama abounded when the esteemed early music ensemble The English Concert (TEC) returned to Zellerbach Hall on Sunday, April 27^th, with a stunning presentation of George Frideric Handel’s 1724 masterpiece (and my favorite) Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, performed by a superlative cast.

This Cesare was the fourth performance in the multi-season Handel opera/oratorio partnership between TEC and Cal Performances that began in the 2021-22 Season with Alcina, after the announced Tamerlano in the previous season was canceled for obvious reasons. It was followed by the fine showings of Solomon and Rodelinda in the successive seasons, providing Bay Area audiences with the much-needed shots of Baroque opera goodness which were heretofore were few and far between around here. The show on Sunday, as conducted by TEC Music Director Harry Bicket, proved to be the best in the series so far!

Cesare – together with the other two written in the “Miracle Year” of 1724-1725, namely Tamerlano and Rodelinda – constituted the peak of the collaboration between Handel and the librettist Nicola Francesco Haym in London. Handel employed his largest orchestra thus far, including the four horns and on-stage banda, for Cleopatra’s beguiling aria “V’adoro, pupille.” Meanwhile, Haym drew inspiration for his libretto from earlier operas, expanding it with such a dramatic power and cohesion far beyond the source. Important to note that they both wrote the opera as a tragi-comedy, with the comic element concentrated towards the first half of the opera. Last Sunday’s show emphasized that aspect significantly, a fact that was greeted by the audience with hearty laughs.

While I wasn’t Bicket’s greatest fan, his interpretative take on the score completely blew my mind on Sunday. Quietly assuming his position on the harpsichord, he conjured a glorious reading full of nuances and splendor that brought out the greatness of Handel’s masterpiece. Under his direction, TCE played like a well-oiled machine, with each section listening to each other and showing a great camaraderie and meticulous preparation.

Dario Acosta

He chose a pace that could only be described as “leisurely,” though to my ears a little zippier than usual. He wasn’t afraid to be flexible in showcasing his glorious singers with both the fastest “Al lampo dell’armi” I heard or “Se pietà” that seemingly froze time! Nevertheless, his glorious achievement was the ability to create almost a “wall of sound” from TEC, something that I hadn’t heard before in the many years I watched them, and that seems very rare for a period-instrument band.

This was particularly evident in the orchestral introduction for “L’angue offeso” that felt like strong, rolling waves hitting the shores, perfectly describing Sesto’s emotional distress even before (s)he sings this dark aria! But it didn’t mean Bicket handled the score with heavy-handedness; he knew exactly how to lighten the mood to match the more comedic parts; “Se in fiorito,” for example, came with airiness and playfulness of being in a meadow with the solo violin (immaculately played by Nadja Zwiener) as the bird chirping happily in a duet with Cesare.

The setup for “V’adoro, pupille,” in particular, was noteworthy. The nine soloists were placed on the left side of the orchestra while Cleopatra sang from the elevated platform of the woodwind section, creating a kind of spatial perception that nicely replaced the onstage band scene of the staged production. Similarly, Ursula Paludan Monberg played the solo obbligato horn of “Va tacito” front and center, generating a three-way negotiation with Cesare and Tolomeo.

While no director was mentioned anywhere in the program notes, there was a definite sense of direction among all the singers and TEC members, so much so that this performance should be categorized as semi-staged. Baroque operas, with their abundant da capo arias, often have the reputation of being dull; I daresay that, done this way with few but suggestive props, this performance was much more effective in showcasing the opera than many staged ones in which the singers are left to their own devices! The four-hour running time (including two intermissions) flew by so quickly!

As is the usual practice in performing Cesare, cuts were made during last Sunday’s concert. The often-omitted aria for Nireno, “Qui perde un momento” – written by Handel for the 1730 revival and included by Bicket in his 2013 Metropolitan Opera show – was nowhere to be found. Even more obvious omission was Achilla’s third aria, “Dal fulgor,” resulting in his stabbing by Tolomeo happening offstage. Furthermore, Act II ended with the famous “Se pietà” and Bicket moved Tolomeo’s arioso “Belle dee” into the beginning of Act III. While it was a sensible move considering the popularity of “Se pietà,” unfortunately, it made Act II feel relatively slight compared to the other two Acts.

Similar to the previous installments, Bicket assembled a well-curated cast to bring the drama (and comedy) to life. Cleopatra is the heart of Cesare, the character undergoing – across eight arias and two accompagnatirecitatives  — one of the most dramatic emotional trajectories in a Baroque opera. While I had some reservations about her US debut as Micaëla in Carmen at San Francisco Opera last fall, British soprano Louise Alder was completely astonishing in her bold personification of the Queen of Egypt.

Equipped with a bright tone and an elegant phrasing, she embodied the role with chameleon-like intensity, highlighting the full range of Cleopatra’s emotional journey from a giddy teenager to an eventual queen. Decked in a black ball gown, Alder tackled her first few arias with a great sense of playfulness, often including elaborately over-the-top ornamentations and culminating in the larger-than-life “V’adoro, pupille” performed towering over the orchestra. She also employed great comic timing during the recitatives, particularly in the scenes with her servant Nireno, the cunning countertenor Meili Li.

Alder reached her dramatic apex with the “Se pietà,” executed with such white-hot intensity that it turned the audience completely silent. Her voice felt bigger and even brighter in that aria, and her reading turned more majestic, even with the slower-than-normal tempo. Even more heartbreaking was her delivery in “Piangerò” in Act III, with its contrasting A and B sections. Alder beautifully captured a woman at her wits’ end on the brink of losing everything. So tense were those two numbers in captivating me that I felt the usually-explosive subsequent number “Da tempeste” felt a bit underpowered, almost as if Cleopatra was still wary as to whether the tide had turned for her!

This was my first time hearing contralto Beth Taylor, and what an imposing Cornelia she made! Taylor’s voice had a deep, dark quality and was considerably large, which she employed intelligently to portray the grieving mother. Her opening aria, “Priva son d’ogni conforto” moved very slowly (somebody might say too slow), but Taylor sustained it wonderfully. Taylor also radiated regality both in her look, a sheer gray ball gown, and her movement, even when she was under duress. I can’t wait to experience her artistry more in the future, particularly in bel canto. (She sang Arbace in Semiramide three years ago!)

As her son, Sesto, mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy made her presence known with her brighter, more lyrical timbre. While her voice might lack some masculine quality, and “Svegliatevi nel core” lost some bite, Murrihy perfectly captured the youth with nervous energy thrown in a horrific situation. Her Sesto also gained strength and confidence as she moved from aria to aria as Sesto finally dared to do the deed. Murrihy’s duet with Taylor that closed Act I, “Son nata a lagrimar,” was completely heart-wrenching to watch as they tenderly exchanged phrases after phrases in sadness.

Countertenor John Holiday was sufficiently thuggish as the evil Tolomeo, Cleopatra’s brother. Decked in eye-popping silver suits and playing for laughs, his Tolomeo drew a fine line between caricature and evilness. Tolomeo’s arias had lots of jumps that Holiday performed wonderfully; I just wished to see more nuances in his personification. Baritones Morgan Pearse and Thomas Chenhall rounded out the principals as the scheming Achilla and dignified Curio, respectively.

Any performances of Cesare will depend on the person who sings the title role, as Handel wrote it for the leading star of the era, Il Senesino, and assigned an equal number of arias and accompagnati  recitatives  as Cleopatra. After more than a decade as the world’s most sought-after Tolomeo, French countertenor Christophe Dumaux finally decided to step up into the title role two years ago in Amsterdam, and this performance was a revelation. Dumaux had everything you wanted from the title role: a commanding presence, a gorgeous voice full of color and nuance, an ease of coloratura, elegant phrasing and dynamics, and a commendable breath control.

From the moment Dumaux entered the stage, he sonorously launched into “Presti omai” with the confidence of a general winning a war. Dumaux fully embraced the character, walking back and forth with a smile, decked in a black outfit from head to toe. Always a stage animal, he embodied Caesar with a great sense of effortlessness, as if he were in a staged presentation he had rehearsed a million times. From there, he moved from strength to strength, with the highlights including the “dueling” solos with Monberg in “Va tacito” and particularly with Zwiener in “Se in fiorito.” The latter contained an extended cadenza where the orchestra stopped, and Dumaux and Zwiener jaw-droppingly traded trills and coloratura passages a cappella.

Dumaux also maintained a good rapport with Alder, the two clearly enjoying each other’s company and playing on each other’s strengths. It was also refreshing to see that their duet “Caro! Bella!” was treated as an actual love duet, not the usual coronation duet.

This was truly an extraordinary performance of Handel’s masterpiece, and I applauded Cal Performances for bringing such a great show to the Bay Area. TEC, Bicket, and the whole cast received a lengthy standing ovation from the audience on Sunday. It was also very heartening that the auditorium was pretty packed that night (especially compared to Alcina in 2021), hopefully a good sign of increased appetite for more Baroque operas around here.

Following performances in Omaha and New York, the Cesare tour will conclude on May 11 at London’s Barbican. Next season, they will be back at Zellerbach Hall with Hercules starring Ann Hallenberg and William Guanbo Su. I certainly will be there!