One of Georg Friedrich Händel's most ambitious operas. Composed to celebrate the accession to the throne of the second monarch of the House of Hanover: Jorge II. The election of the noble crusader king was to exalt the virtues of the monarch through the historical figure of Richard the Lionheart., Richard I of England. Beyond its propaganda context, The work has exceptional dramatic and human content, focused on honor and justice during the Crusades in Cyprus. Händel deploys a score of heroic brilliance, where vocal virtuosity is not mere decoration, but the expression of the power and integrity of the sovereign caught between political duty, personal passion and tyranny. The contemporary vision, deeply theatrical, still in concert, that Paul Agnew proposes will restore the vital pulse to an opera perhaps less performed than it deserves.
The Flourishing Arts rescues from oblivion this fascinating opera by Handel in its fifth visit to the Palau de les Arts. The prestigious training, directed this time by Paul Agnew, has brought together a formidable cast of fresh and emerging voices led by the new sensation in the countertenor tessitura, Hugh Cutting, in the role of Riccardo Primo, which in the historic premiere of this baroque jewel was carried out by the famous castrato Senesino. The young British singer will be accompanied by the French soprano Mélissa Petit, regular collaborator of Cecilia Bartoli and the best historicist groups, plus mezzo-soprano Juliette Mey, laureate by William Christie in The Garden of Voices 2023, the academy of baroque singers of Les Arts Florissants.
Opera in three acts
Libreto by Paolo Antonio Rolli,
based on that of Francesco Briani for Isacio tyrant
