DVD + Blu-Ray:
Handel: Ariodante with Cecilia Bartoli

„Cecilia Bartoli is a league of her own!" (Der Standard). "The singing was sensational" (LA Times).

At Salzburg Festival, Cecilia Bartoli shines as Ariodante with her dazzling coloratura in a highly acclaimed new production by the German director Christoph Loy, who is known for his clever psychological stagings.

Loy turns Handel’s splendid baroque opera into an exciting and differentiated reflection on gender roles and introduces us to the ruthless world of intrigue at the Royal Court of Scotland – “one of the most intelligent opera works one has ever seen in the early repertoire” (ORF). A high-class ensemble, first and foremost a brilliant Cecilia Bartoli in the trouser role of the knight Ariodante who effortlessly switches between cheerful and lamenting virtuoso singing – “a league of her own!” (Standard) – makes the production a true triumph.

At her side perform audience favourite Rolando Villazón as Lurcano, French soprano Sandrine Piau as desperate love-seeking Dalinda and young American soprano Kathryn Lewek, praised by critics as a “true discovery” (Neue Zürcher Zeitung). Gianluca Capuano at the podium of the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco “provides for elegance, richness of colour and a sensitive, stirring realisation of the ingenious score” (Kurier)

Original title Handel: Ariodante
Genre Opera
Recording location Salzburg Festival, Haus für Mozart, August 2017
Duration 216 mins
Production Company A co-production of Unitel and ORF/3sat in cooperation with Salzburg Festival
Composer George Frideric Handel
Orchestra / Band Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco
Conductor Gianluca Capuano
Choir Salzburger Bachchor
Chorus Master Alois Glaßner
Stage Director Christof Loy
Soloist Cecilia Bartoli, Kathryn Lewek, Rolando Villazón, Sandrine Piau, Nathan Berg, Christophe Dumaux, Kristofer Lundin