Handel: Agrippina - Encore

The Met's new production.

Handel's tale whisks us off to ancient Rome with its countless intrigues and loose morals: this will be the first time that the Metropolitan Opera's stage hosts this Italian-language masterpiece that the 24-year-old genius premièred in Venice in 1709. The New York opera house's leading star mezzo-soprano, Joyce di Donato, will portray the conniving and power-hungry title character under the baton of Harry Bicket, who has won extensive recognition around the... world for his performances of Baroque music, including the operas of Handel. Staging the production is one of the most distinguished opera directors of recent decades: David McVicar has contrived a fantastic way to reframe the plot of this black comedy about power - its hold and its abuse - without making any secret of its contemporary overtones.
In this cast luxuriating with top-notch singers, the mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey will portray Agrippina's son, the future emperor Nerone, in a role that was originally written, as per the custom of the time, for castrated singers. Singing the part of Poppea, whose otherworldly beauty brings her into close proximity with power, is the incredibly versatile Brenda Rae, while the ambitious commander will be played by Iestyn Davies, one of the finest countertenors of our time, with Matthew Rose, a base sought after around the world, playing the exhausted emperor.

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