United States Handel, Giulio Cesare in Egitto: Soloists and orchestra of The English Concert / Harry Bicket (artistic director and harpsichord). Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall, University of California Berkeley, 27.4.2025. (HS)
Cast:
Giulio Cesare – Christophe Dumaux
Cleopatra – Louise Alder
Sesto – Paula Murrihy
Cornelia – Beth Taylor
Tolomeo – John Holiday
Achilla – Morgan Pearse
Nireno – Meili Li
Curio – Thomas Chenhall
Annual visits from The English Concert to Cal Performances have become must-see, must-hear, must-experience events. For vocal splendor and excitement, this performance of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto reached the top tier. There wasn’t a soft spot in the cast. Three (count ‘em) countertenors and a glorious true contralto would have been enough to perk up the jaded ears of longtime opera aficionados, but the vocal acting and sheer musicality was extraordinary up and down the cast list.
Music director Harry Bicket conducted from the harpsichord and drew what seemed like inexhaustible energy and precision from the 27 instrumentalists, several of whom contributed delightful moments interacting with the cast. The semi-staged performance – there was no hiding behind music stands but actual interplay between the characters – may have lacked the elaborate sets that characterize Baroque opera and might account for the stilted storytelling. Excellent characterizations by the singers more than made up for that by putting the emphasis on the music, which is why this four-hour marathon of an opera stands as Handel’s finest.
French countertenor Christophe Dumaux, whose repertoire is, so far at least, firmly centered on the Baroque, was brilliant in the title role. Playing Cesare as a nonchalant gamer, he revealed a dizzying array of vocal assets – accurate pitch, fioratura to burn, all of it flexible and unhurried, plus a long messa di voce on the introductory note to one aria that had the audience gasping for breath. (Well, at least me.)
From the first words of the character’s opening aria, ‘Alma del gran Pompeo’, he delivered effortless sound and power, shaded with supple phrasing. Enthralled by Cleopatra’s wiles in Act II, he stopped to have an extended musical conversation with lead violinist Nadja Zwiener’s charmingly played birdsong in ‘Se in fiorito’. In Act III, ‘Dall’ondoso periglio’ showcased a compendium of Baroque countertenor strengths, and his big aria, the fiery ‘Al lampo dell’armi’, presented a master class in command.
As Cleopatra, British soprano Louise Alder wielded a rich sound, certainly more appropriate for a Baroque seductress than the farm girl Micaela she played in San Francisco Opera’s Carmen last fall. The staging for ‘V’adoro, pupille’, her alluring Act II aria, placed her at the back of the orchestra as Cesare roamed the audience, too far away to feel the effects of all that sexiness, but she sang it with appealing poise. Better was Cleopatra’s tragic ‘Se pièta’, expressing how much she actually felt for Cesare when he is called to battle late in Act II. Her best was a heartfelt ‘Piangerò’, the Mozart-like lament in Act III.
Scottish contralto Beth Taylor displayed richness and depth from above the staff to well below it, with power and sumptuousness in equal measure. Best was her saraband. ‘Priva son d’ogni conforto’, a response to seeing her husband Pompeo’s severed head paraded before Cesare, but every time she piped up another aspect of her vocal talent came to the fore.
As Sesto, her stepson, Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy conveyed the character’s teenage emotional bursts with panache, notably in the Act I da capo aria ‘Svegliatevi nel core’. The mother-son duet, ‘Son nata a lagrimar’, was especially effective.
In the other major countertenor role, the imperious, devious and deceitful Tolomeo, John Holiday affected effeminate overtones but in an arrow-straight yet flexible voice that missed nothing. One highlight was the da capo ‘Va tacito e nascosto’, in which Tolomeo and Cesare confront each other. The words of the aria refer to the hunt, so Handel introduced a solo obbligato horn alongside the voices, a unique sound combination. Ursula Paludan Monberg, on the stage with the singers, didn’t bobble a note on her valveless horn.
The third countertenor, Meili Li, born in China and educated in London, played the servant Nireno with a distinctively clear tone and appropriate jitteriness, his character caught in the clash between Cleopatra and Tolomeo. As the generals of Caesar’s and Tolomeo’s armies, baritones Morgan Pearse and Thomas Chenhall held their own amid the higher-lying vocal riches of the Baroque specialists.
Harvey Steiman
Performances are scheduled on 4 May at Carnegie Hall and on 11 May at the Barbican Hall.