Beyond Aïda: the land of the pharaohs in opera
Discover the fascination that Ancient Egypt has had on opera composers and librettists from the 17th century. We trace the story of pharaohs in opera from Cesti’s Orontea, Queen of Egypt (1656) to the High Baroque operatic fashion of Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Hasse’s Antonio e Cleopatra, as well as Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Then Rossini’s Mose in Egitto, Verdi’s Aïda and Massenet’s Thaïs in the 19th century, and explore the atonal world of Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron and the minimalist output of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten.
A Selected Discography:
Cantate. Cesti (Jacobs, Concerto Vocale)
Arie Amorose. Janet Baker, mezzo
Handel – Opera Arias & Cantatas. MarÃa Bayo, sop.
Diana Damrau ~ Arie di Bravura (Mozart, Salieri, Righini)
Drama Queens. Joyce DiDonato, mezzo.
