Giulio Cesare at Opéra Bastille

William Shakespeare, in the early years of the 17th century, had been unable to resist bringing to the stage the character of Cleopatra, the bewitching and impetuous queen of Egypt, mistress of Caesar and Mark Anthony. A century later Handel also succumbed to her charms, conceiving one of his most brilliant and ambitious operas around her. First performed by the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1723, Giulio Cesare in Egitto was written for the greatest singers of the time: Senesino, Francesca Cuzzoni, Margherita Durastanti. Never had the composer's sense of theatre been more acute, irresistibly mixing styles. Never had his melodic genius been more effulgent: the score contains some of his brightest jewels, like Cleopatra's arias, now seductive, now lamenting. And never had his orchestration been richer or more expressive. The ghost of Shakespeare is definitely in the air... Emmanuelle Haïm and Laurent Pelly return to this stunning production which was a huge success when it first opened.