Falk von Traubenberg
Though not each presenter has introduced their season, up to now plainly extra time will go earlier than Polish countertenor sensation Jakub Józef Orliński returns to New York Metropolis, his dwelling whereas he was attending Juilliard. So, Chris’s Cache gives him in a broadcast of Tolomeo, one in all his specialties.
When most individuals consider a Handel Tolomeo, they possible recall Cleopatra’s evil brother, the villain of Giulio Cesare, however in at the moment’s opera, he’s the hero of one of many 5 operas the composer introduced between 1726 and 1728 when his firm had beneath contract the 2 most well-known prima donnas of the day: the equal of Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi starring within the similar opera!
Orliński’s position was created by Senesino, a number one castrato and long-time Handel collaborator. For years he and soprano Francesca Cuzzoni premiered lots of the composer’s finest works together with the unimaginable trio of Cesare, Rodelinda, and Tamerlano.
To create an excellent greater sensation, Handel secured for a number of seasons Faustina Bordoni, whose voice we’d most likely time period a mezzo soprano at the moment. After Bordoni (spouse of rival composer Johann Adolph Hasse) joined, London audiences heard Alessandro, Admeto, Riccardo Primo, Siroe, and at last Tolomeo, all works wherein the 2 main feminine roles had been painstakingly accorded equal prominence.
The Cuzzoni-Bordoni operas are sometimes seen as weaker than people who got here instantly earlier than, however every of the 5 options sturdy writing nonetheless to typically weakish libretti—Admeto (a lighter spin on the Alceste fantasy than Gluck produced) stays my favourite of the 5.
“Stille amare,” the hero’s best-known aria, has been embraced by two American countertenors who sang it typically at competitions, specifically Anthony Roth Costanzo
and Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen.
Maybe having three names foretells a Tolomeo affinity, so it’s then no shock that the opera is one which Orliński has carried out not solely on this 2023 live performance tour with Il Pomo d’Oro, but additionally in a staging on the Karlsruhe Handel Pageant.
A yr after the Pomo d’Oro tour, rival Franco Fagioli additionally carried out Tolomeo throughout Europe. Lengthy one of many world’s most celebrated countertenors, Fagioli is simply lastly made his NYC debut final month at L’Alliance.
Orliński excursions extensively giving many concert events and recitals. Nonetheless, he final gave a solo live performance domestically at tiny Weill Recital Corridor in early 2019. His most up-to-date New York look was in 2021: his (not notably profitable) debut in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice. Nonetheless, he did give a quick U.S. tour with Pomo d’Oro simply final yr.
Subsequent season, he’ll be once more showing as Athamas in Amsterdam within the Claus Guth manufacturing of Semele which premiered in Munich and is outwardly nonetheless scheduled to come back to the Met in a future season. He’ll even be taking over for the primary time the title position in Giulio Cesare for an in depth European live performance tour with Sabine Devieilhe as his Cleopatra. It’s a undertaking more likely to find yourself on Erato CDs as each singers are Warner/Erato artists.
Notable in at the moment’s Tolomeo are two rising French singers, soprano Melissa Petit, who has develop into a favourite of Cecilia Bartoli with whom she steadily seems, and countertenor Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian whose marvelous new Purcell CD is one in all my favorites of 2025.
Handel: Tolomeo
Elisa: Giuseppina Bridelli
Seleuce: Melissa Petit
Tolomeo: Jakub Józef Orliński
Alessandro: Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian
Araspe: Andrea Mastroni
Il Pomo d’Oro
Conductor: Francesco Corti
Katowice
11 Might 2023
Broadcast
Tolomeo may be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio participant above and the ensuing mp3 file will seem in your obtain listing.
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Christopher Corwin
Christopher Corwin started writing for parterre field in 2011 beneath the pen identify “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has additionally appeared in , The New York Instances, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he got here to opera by way of the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he started listening to at age 11. His explicit enthusiasm is seventeenth and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre field presenting stay recordings.
