| The George Frederic Handel Hall

Tolomeo, Re d’Egitto HWV 25

Opera by G. F. Handel


Concert performance based on the Halle Handel edition

Musical direction: Giovanni Antonini

Soloists: Franco Fagioli (Tolomeo), Giulia Semenzato (Seleuce), Riccardo Novaro (Araspe), Giuseppina Bridelli (Elisa), Christophe Dumaux (Alessandro) // Il Giardino Armonico // Basel Chamber Orchestra

Modern premiere in the reconstructed original orchestration in co-production with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and Il Giardino Armonico

Concert introduction: 6.00 pm // Handel House, Glass Hall // Admission free - free choice of seats // Duration approx. 30 minutes

With the kind support of KATHI Rainer Thiele GmbH

Ticket Preise:

65, 45, 30

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Tolomeo is one of Handel’s least performed operas and differs greatly from many of his other musical dramas. One interesting anecdote about the genesis of Tolomeo, re d’Egitto is that it was literally the last opera  performed before the close of London’s first opera academy, of which Handel was the director, and starred the two rival prima donnas, Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni. Handel and his librettist wrote an opera  which, besides its realistic plot, stands out by virtue of its pared-down staging and musical interpretation, and its focus on the essential. Tolemeo was not a popular success during its first run, owing perhaps in part to this  spartan approach. Only when it was reprised in 1730 was its appeal much greater – thanks among other things to major changes to the score, a larger cast and arias either newly composed for the freshly engaged soloists or taken from other works.