CONDUCTOR

Harry Bicket

PRODUCTION

David McVicar

SET DESIGNER

Robert Jones

COSTUME DESIGNER

Brigitte Reiffenstuel

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Paule Constable

CHOREOGRAPHER

Andrew George

George Frideric Handel

Giulio Cesare

GENERAL MANAGER

Peter Gelb

MUSIC DIRECTOR

James Levine

PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR

Fabio Luisi

Opera in three actsLibretto by Nicola Francesco Haym

Saturday, April 27, 2013, 12:00–4:35 pm

New Production

The production of Giulio Cesare was made possible by a generous gift from the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, in memory of William B. Warren, former Co-Trustee and Governor of the Foundation; and the Mercedes T. Bass Charitable Corporation

Additional funding was received from The Annenberg Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts

Production owned by Glyndebourne Festival Opera

The 29th Metropolitan Opera performance of

Saturday, April 27, 2013, 12:00–4:35 pm

George Frideric Handel’s

ConductorHarry Bicket

Giulio Cesare

2012–13 Season

the romans

Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare) David Daniels

Curius (Curio), tribune John Moore*

Cornelia, widow of Pompey Patricia Bardon

Sextus Pompey (Sesto Pompeo), son of Pompey and Cornelia Alice Coote

This performance is being broadcast live over The Toll Brothers–Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, sponsored by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury homebuilder®, with generous long-term support from The Annenberg Foundation, The Neubauer Family Foundation, the Vincent A. Stabile Endowment for Broadcast Media, and contributions from listeners worldwide.

This performance is also being broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM channel 74.

the egyptians

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt Natalie Dessay

Ptolemy (Tolomeo), King of Egypt, Cleopatra’s brother Christophe Dumaux

Achillas (Achilla), general, adviser to Ptolemy Guido Loconsolo

Nirenus (Nireno), confidant of Cleopatra and Ptolemy Rachid Ben Abdeslam

dancers

Christina Luzwick, Karla Dionne Victum, Justin Flores, Kei Tsuruharatani

actors

Brian Baldwin, Sean Chin, Matthew Cusick, Tony Guerrero, Arthur Lazalde, Shad Ramsey, Christian Rozakis, Sasha Semin, Collin Ware, Philip Willingham, Joshua Wynter, Christian Zaremba

Violin Solo David Chan

continuo

Harpsichord Harry BicketCello David HeissTheorbo/Lute/Baroque Guitar James Daniel Swenberg

Harpsichord Ripieno Bradley Brookshire

* Graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program

Yamaha is the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera.

Latecomers will not be admitted during the performance.

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Met TitlesTo activate, press the red button to the right of the screen in front of your seat and follow the instructions provided. To turn off the display, press the red button once again. If you have questions please ask an usher at intermission.

Chorus Master Donald PalumboFight Director Nicolas SandysMusical Preparation Donna Racik, Steven Eldredge,

Gareth Morrell, Bradley Brookshire, and Jonathan KellyAsistant Stage Directors Eric Einhorn, Jonathon Loy, and

Kathleen Smith BelcherItalian Coach Gildo Di NunzioMet Titles Sonya FriedmanScenery, properties, and electrical props constructed and

painted by Cardiff Theatrical Services, Glyndebourne Festival Opera Shops, and Metropolitan Opera Shops

Costumes executed by Glyndebourne Festival Opera Costume Shop and the Metropolitan Opera Costume Shop

Wigs and Makeup executed by Metropolitan Opera Wig and Makeup Department

Giulio Cesare in Egitto is performed in the Händel Complete Critical Edition by Frieder Zschoch and used by arrangement with European American Music Distributors Company, sole U.S. and Canadian agent for Bärenreiter-Verlag, publisher and copyright owner.

This performance is made possible in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Before the performance begins, please switch off cell phones and other electronic devices.

This production uses gunshot effects.

The Met will be recording and simulcasting audio/video footage in the opera house today. If you do not want us to use your image, please tell a Met staff member.

A scene from Handel’s Giulio Cesare with David Daniels in the title role

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This afternoon’s performance is being transmitted live in high definition to movie theaters worldwide.

The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation.

Bloomberg is the global corporate sponsor of The Met: Live in HD.

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The action is based on the historical events of the Roman civil war of 48–47 B.C. Julius Caesar has defeated his rival Pompey and pursued him to Alexandria, capital of Egypt. The kingdom is ruled jointly by Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy, the last of the dynasty established in Egypt, after its conquest by Alexander the Great. Pompey has appealed to Ptolemy for arms and refuge.

Act ICaesar enters Alexandria with his general Curius and his army. They are met by Cornelia and Sextus, the wife and son of Pompey, who have come to sue for peace. Caesar agrees to embrace his enemy, but at that moment Achillas, general of Ptolemy, arrives with a greeting and gift from his king: Pompey’s severed head. Disgusted, Caesar sends Achillas back with an angry message for Ptolemy and a threatening promise that he will meet with the king at his palace before nightfall. Cornelia laments her loss and Sextus swears to avenge his dead father.

In the palace at Alexandria, Cleopatra plots to take sole possession of the throne. When she learns of Ptolemy’s betrayal of Pompey from her servant Nirenus, she resolves to visit Caesar’s camp and win his favour and aid. She and Ptolemy bicker before she steals away. Achillas tells Ptolemy of Caesar’s angry reception of his gift and offers to accomplish his murder if Ptolemy grants him Cornelia as a reward. Ptolemy fears the growing strength of Rome under the leadership of Caesar and agrees.

At his camp, Caesar presides over Pompey’s funeral rites. Cleopatra presents herself to him disguised as Lydia, a handmaiden in the palace, of noble birth but robbed of her birthright by Ptolemy. Captivated, Caesar promises to help her. Cleopatra and Nirenus watch as Cornelia pays her last respects to her dead husband. Cornelia and Sextus plan together to kill Ptolemy. Cleopatra, still disguised, comes forward and pledges the support of the Queen of Egypt, offering them the services of Nirenus as a guide into the palace.

Caesar meets with Ptolemy in an interview of frosty diplomacy. Nevertheless, he cautiously accepts the king’s invitation of hospitality. Cornelia and Sextus confront Ptolemy. He is struck by Cornelia’s beauty, but when Sextus challenges him to combat, he orders their imprisonment. Achillas offers Cornelia her freedom in return for her favors, but she angrily refuses. She and Sextus bid each other a sad farewell before the guards separate them.

Intermission (at APPROXIMATELY 1:30 PM)

Synopsis

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Act IIWith Nirenus’s help, Cleopatra has arranged an entertainment at the palace to further ensnare the interest of Caesar. He arrives and is enchanted by her song. Nirenus assures him that “Lydia” is deeply attracted and will wait for him later that night in her apartment.

Cornelia, now a prisoner of Ptolemy, laments her fate. She repulses Achillas once more, only to be met by the advances of Ptolemy himself. She resolves to take her own life but is saved by Sextus. He has escaped from prison with the aid of Nirenus, who also brings the news that Ptolemy has commanded Cornelia to become one of his concubines. He will help to smuggle Sextus into the harem as well, where, unguarded, the king will be at his most vulnerable.

Cleopatra waits for Caesar in her apartment, pretending to be asleep when he enters. Their tryst is interrupted by Curius, who has overheard Achillas’s assassins searching the palace for Caesar. Cleopatra reveals her true identity to Caesar and begs him to fly to safety. Caesar refuses and goes to face his enemy. Cleopatra prays to the gods to preserve him and the love she now truly feels for him.

Intermission (at APPROXIMATELY 3:05 PM)

Act IIIPtolemy, secure in his harem, lays aside his arms. He throws a white veil to Cornelia in token that she is to be his that night. Sextus steals in and tries to use Ptolemy’s sword to kill him but is disarmed by Achillas, who summons the king to war: Caesar is believed to have plunged to his death in the harbor during the previous night’s assault, but Cleopatra has fled to the Roman camp and mustered an army to march on the palace. Ptolemy prepares to lead his troops, but refuses Achillas the promised reward for Caesar’s death: Cornelia is to be his own prize. A furious Achillas decides to switch his allegiance to Cleopatra.

Ptolemy’s troops are victorious in the battle and Cleopatra is taken prisoner. Her brother promises to take a terrible revenge, but she faces death with courage. Caesar, meanwhile, is not dead: the sea has cast him up onto the shore. Far from his armies, he prays to the wind for help. Sextus and Nirenus stumble across the wounded Achillas dying on the beach. Overheard by Caesar, he gives Sextus a seal that will give the bearer authority to command his troops. As Achillas dies, Caesar takes the seal from Sextus and leaves to assemble a force to storm the palace. Sextus finds new hope. Revenge will soon be his.

Synopsis CONTINUED

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In prison, Cleopatra has prepared to take her own life. Caesar breaks in with his troops and rescues her. He sends her to the port to rally her armies and leaves to wage war on Ptolemy. Cleopatra rejoices.

Believing himself to be victorious, Ptolemy sees no obstacle to his pursuit of Cornelia, but Sextus at last seizes his chance and kills him.

The battle has been won and Caesar crowns Cleopatra sole Queen of Egypt. She declares her allegiance to the Roman Empire. All welcome the arrival of peace.

© David McVicar/Reprinted courtesy of Glyndebourne Festival Opera

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George Frideric Handel

Giulio Cesare in Egitto

In Focus

Premiere: King’s Theatre, London, 1724Handel’s most popular opera—both in his own lifetime and today—depicts the momentous meeting of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. This grand and ancient subject might suggest a vast, Cecil B. DeMille-style epic, but Handel’s operatic masterpiece takes the opposite approach. The opera explores the inner lives of larger-than-life characters with insight and elegance in a score full of arresting subtleties, dreamy trance-like melodies, and vocal heroics. Handel worked within (and helped define) the conventions of opera seria, a structurally formal and decorous genre built primarily around a series of solo arias. He wrote the role of Cesare for the singer Senesino, one of the most celebrated of the castrati—men whose unique, high vocal range was the result of surgery performed before puberty combined with the projection power of an adult male. But Handel’s operas—and Giulio Cesare in particular—are much more than stylized opportunities for showing off vocal pyrotechnics. The composer managed to transform the opera seria format from a constraining dramatic framework into a compelling means to examine thoughts and feelings through magnificent music.

The CreatorsGeorge Frideric Handel (1685–1759) was born in Germany, trained extensively in the music capitals of Italy, and spent most of his brilliant career in London. While his great choral and orchestral works—most notably Messiah and the Music for the Royal Fireworks—have remained extraordinarily popular up to the present day, his theatrical creations, which were instrumental in introducing Italian opera to the British public, disappeared from the world’s stages for almost two centuries. The modern Handel revival began in the 1920s in Germany. During the later decades of the 20th century, a widespread reassessment of his operas brought these works to the attention of contemporary audiences. The libretto for Giulio Cesare—adapted from earlier texts that had served as the basis of successful operas in Italy—was created by Nicola Francesco Haym (1678–1729), a writer, theater manager, cellist, and composer in his own right. He wrote the librettos for several of Handel’s greatest operas, including Tamerlano (1724) and Rodelinda (1725).

The SettingThe story of the opera is loosely based on the encounter of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra in 48 BC in cosmopolitan Alexandria, then the capital of Egypt. This

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defining historical moment has captured the artistic imaginations of everyone from Shakespeare to Hollywood filmmakers, and the legend of a leader who was superhuman in intelligence and skill has persisted through the ages. Cleopatra is another figure who straddles the worlds of history and legend: smart, beautiful, and ultimately doomed. The opera focuses on the first meeting of these towering figures, just after Caesar had defeated his rival Pompey the Great at the battle of Pharsalus to establish himself as the sole ruler of the Roman world. At this time, Cleopatra was co-ruler of Egypt with her brother, the pharaoh Ptolemy XIII (Tolomeo in the opera). With a nod to the British Colonial period, the new Met production transfers the action to a more modern environment, without placing it in a specific time setting.

The MusicThe orchestra in Giulio Cesare is smaller than those of later Baroque operas, and the musical and dramatic messages are conveyed with more economy than later composers used—but with no loss of richness or emotion. The remarkable solo horn accompaniment in Caesar’s marvelous Act I aria “Va, tacito,” for example, recalls the sound of a hunter’s horns as he moves in on his prey while simultaneously suggesting the maneuvers of the characters impressive intellect. Cleopatra is as seductive as she is intelligent: the onstage band (strings, winds, a harp, and a theorbo, or large lute) softly accompanies her ravishing Act II aria

“V’adoro, pupille,” creating a radiant aura around her vocal line to help convince us of her irresistible charms. However fascinating the orchestral details may be, though, the drama and beauty of Handel’s score are conveyed chiefly by the singers. Dialogue and action are generally confined to the recitatives. The solo arias that make up the majority of the score, then, are commentaries on the action, deliberately stopping dramatic time in order to explore a given moment, idea, or feeling in great depth and from every possible artistic and emotional angle.

Giulio Cesare at the MetThe opera had its Met premiere in 1988 in a production by John Copley. The cast included Tatiana Troyanos in the title role, Kathleen Battle as Cleopatra, and Sarah Walker as Cornelia, with Trevor Pinnock conducting. Jeffrey Gall, as Tolomeo, and Derek Lee Ragin as Nireno, were the Met’s first countertenors. A 1999 revival featured Jennifer Larmore as Cesare and the impressive pairing of mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and countertenor David Daniels (in his Met debut) as Cornelia and Sesto. This staging was last seen during the 2006–07 season with Daniels and Lawrence Zazzo sharing the role of Cesare, marking the first time a man sang the title role at the Met. David McVicar’s new production opened on April 4, 2013, with Harry Bicket conducting Daniels opposite Natalie Dessay as Cleopatra.

In Focus CONTINUED

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George Frideric Handel was a handsome, highly ambitious young man in his mid-20s when he came to London, saw a new opportunity, and conquered the fickle English public for the first time. His weapon, the

hastily written Rinaldo, premiered in February 1711 and represented Italian-style opera seria—“serious” or noble-minded opera, in contrast to the comic, everyday tone of opera buffa—which had only recently been imported to the island. Rinaldo in fact was the first example of this type created specifically for London audiences. Its magical atmosphere and use of spectacular special effects helped win them over temporarily, but Handel would experience the ebb and flow of their enthusiasm several times before the public taste shifted decisively, finally forcing him to abandon opera three decades later. Handel then found an alternative (and less costly) outlet for his dramatic genius in the new style of English oratorio he had pioneered.

By the time he unveiled Giulio Cesare early in 1724, the German-born composer had relocated to London permanently and was riding another crest of operatic triumph as one of several house composers for the Royal Academy of Music. The Academy (no relation to the current institution of that name) was founded in 1719 under a charter from King George I to provide a steady supply of opera seria on the Italian model, which by now commanded international prestige (except in France). Handel’s duties as “master of the orchestra” included procuring casts from among the leading European stars and working with the company’s librettist, Nicola Francesco Haym, to shape a text maximally suited to the roster of available singers. “Librettist” in this context meant recycling pre-existing texts that had been written according to opera seria’s familiar conventions but also likely to satisfy the audience’s hunger for novelty in the form of fresh situations and settings.

As his source text for Giulio Cesare, Haym turned to a Venetian libretto written by Giacomo Francesco Bussani in the 1670s; it had already been set multiple times by various composers working in Italy decades before Handel. The process of adaptation, in which Handel is believed to have had substantial input, involved savvy trimming away of subplots and minor characters as well as drawing on other Italian sources to craft additional scenes that would give the composer’s imagination especially free rein: in particular, the memorable opening sequence of the second act. The opera’s denouement was then rewritten, according to the eminent Handel scholar Winton Dean, in a way that “tightened the characterization and converted a haphazard chronicle into a closely organized drama,” linking together its two principal story lines: the love and political alliance between Caesar and Cleopatra and the attainment of justice by Cornelia and her son Sextus for Pompey’s murder by Ptolemy and his henchman Achillas.

Program Note

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The opera’s full title, Giulio Cesare in Egitto emphasizes Caesar’s presence in an “exotic,” faraway place where—while preoccupied with waging warfare—he in turn is conquered by the power of love. Handel and Haym could just as reasonably have used the title George Bernard Shaw would later employ, Caesar and Cleopatra, since the unfolding of the relationship of both protagonists is the opera’s focus. Along with the two Shakespeare plays in which each of these characters respectively figures, Giulio Cesare shows the capacity of art, unlike propaganda, to illuminate the blurry realm where history and legend intersect and acquire timeless significance.

Based very loosely on accounts of Caesar’s campaign in Egypt in 48–47 BC by such ancient chroniclers as Plutarch, the plot mostly involves a fictional fantasy, set against this epic backdrop, in which the effects of love are revealed in a series of intimate close-ups from varying perspectives. Dean rightly points to the essentially youthful quality of this love and of the other passions treated in Giulio Cesare. (By contrast, the opera Rodelinda, which Handel composed the following year—and which the Met successfully reintroduced to its stage in its 2004 production—explores its scenario of faithful married love with a moving eloquence that foreshadows Beethoven’s Fidelio.)

In the context of opera seria conventions, this youthfulness was reinforced by Handel’s deployment of vocal types, with its emphasis on high male voices as a counterpart to the female singers. The title role was written specifically for the celebrity Italian castrato Senesino, and Tolomeo and Nireno were likewise performed by castrati; the Met’s production mirrors this by casting countertenors in these roles. Cleopatra and Sesto are both written for soprano (i.e., Sesto, unlike Cesare, was conceived as a “trouser role”). Cornelia was cast for an alto, Achilla and Curio both for bass. Indeed, Handel composed not only for particular voice types but for specific singers, tailoring his musical conception of each part to their individual strengths and vocal colors. He even rewrote the first act substantially after composing an initial draft in the summer of 1723 when he learned that the cast originally planned for the premiere would have to be altered.

Revisions were made to the libretto as well—generally regarded as among the very best Handel ever had at his disposal—while several phases of revisions allowed him to refine the score and to weave unifying threads throughout the expansive structure. These include the choices of key and tempo associated with a particular character’s arias. The composer lavished particular care on Giulio Cesare, which is evident both in the ambitious large-scale dimensions of the work and in the loving detail of its musical invention and orchestration.

Handel’s tireless efforts were repaid by Cesare’s highly successful initial reception, which led to three revivals in his lifetime; for each of these he altered the score further, taking into account the new casts. We hear an example of

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one of these revisions in a new aria he provided for Nireno at the beginning of the second act (hitherto, like Curio, without any aria). Productions soon followed on the continent, and Giulio Cesare was among the very first works that set in motion Handel’s posthumous recognition as one of the masters of opera, starting in the 1920s, after nearly two centuries of lazy assumptions about operatic sensibility in the high Baroque. It now holds pride of place throughout the world as the most frequently produced of Handel’s operas.

Certainly some of the fascination—in Handel’s time and in our own—can be ascribed to the undying allure of Cleopatra. As Stacy Schiff observes in her bestselling recent biography of the queen, Cleopatra has had “one of the busiest afterlives in history,” eventually becoming “an asteroid, a video game, a cliché, a cigarette, a slot machine, a strip club, a synonym for Elizabeth Taylor.”

But the reason Handel’s musical dramatization of this material has enjoyed its own remarkable afterlife results from its depth and variety. A still-commonplace bias against opera seria holds that the convention of the da capo aria, which is its basic building block (an ABA form), involves a merely formulaic repetition after the contrasting middle section, with a little extra vocal dazzle sprinkled on the second time around. Another related assumption is that the “action” happens in the brief passages of speech-like recitative linking together the arias. In fact the events that really hold interest and matter for us occur within the arias. These externalize an ongoing process of insight and reflection (however hackneyed the actual words of the libretto may be).

Take the sequence of arias for Cleopatra, by means of which Handel charts the evolution of her self-understanding as authentic emotion replaces protective artifice. His portrayal of each stage—the illuminating simplicity of

“Piangerò la sorte mia,” for instance—is the musical equivalent of a Shakespeare monologue: hardly in keeping with the caricature of Baroque opera as merely a vehicle for vocal display. Even more, the arias are not just pockets of lyrical beauty but gain substance and significance within the larger network of the other character portraits. To take “Piangerò” again as an example, Handel’s subtle touch is to add flutes—associated by convention with mourning—so as to set Cleopatra’s emotions in counterpoint to the tragic grief that characterizes the widowed Cornelia.

Handel’s version of opera seria in Giulio Cesare integrates these musical portrayals within an even larger context of vibrant theatricality. The original production called for state-of-the-art stagecraft and elaborate costumes to enhance the legendary resonance and fantasy of the story. Powerful, even gruesome visuals are integral to its effect—starting with the display of Pompey’s decapitated head—and Handel made sure to provide some of the most ravishing music of his entire score for the spectacular scenic picture

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Program Note CONTINUED

accompanying Cleopatra’s first meeting with Caesar in the guise of “Lydia.” Music itself is “visualized” as an onstage consort producing the celestial strains that so enchant Caesar. And the choreographic impulses so central to the composer’s imagination naturally lend themselves to staging.

Opera seria, after all, doesn’t mean “serious all the time.” Giulio Cesare interpolates moments of playful seduction and irony amid recurrent episodes of threat and violence. David McVicar’s production has generated widespread excitement thanks to his sympathy for Handel’s aesthetic, which thrillingly juxtaposes deeply explored emotional states and a remarkably varied palette of moods with a sheer delight in entertainment. It’s sad to imagine, during all those years when an aria here and there was admired but Handel’s operas themselves faced derision as inherently undramatic fossils, how many were missing out on a great show.

—Thomas May

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The Cast and Creative Team

this season Maria Stuarda and Giulio Cesare at the Met. met production Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).career highlights His productions include Il Trovatore (Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera); La Clemenza di Tito (Aix-en-Provence Festival); Les Troyens, Adriana Lecouvreur, Aida, Salome, Le Nozze di Figaro, Faust, Die Zauberflöte, and Rigoletto (Covent Garden); Wagner’s Ring cycle (Strasbourg); Tristan und Isolde (Tokyo); Alcina, Tosca, and The Rape of Lucretia (ENO); Don Giovanni (San Francisco); The Rake’s Progress, La Traviata, Così fan tutte, Madama Butterfly, and Idomeneo (Scottish Opera); Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Giulio Cesare, Carmen, and La Bohème (Glyndebourne); Sweeney Todd, Don Giovanni, Hamlet, and Il Re Pastore (Opera North); Semele (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées); Don Giovanni and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Brussels); The Turn of the Screw (Mariinsky Theatre, ENO); and Manon (ENO, Dallas, Barcelona, Chicago). He was knighted last year and received the South Bank Show Award for his productions of Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne and The Rape of Lucretia and The Turn of the Screw at ENO.

David McVicardirector (glasgow, scotland)

Harry Bicketconductor (liverpool, england)

this season La Clemenza di Tito and Giulio Cesare at the Met, Lucio Silla at Barcelona’s Liceu, a concert with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and a European tour and recordings with the English Concert.met appearances Rodelinda (debut, 2004).career highlights Recent performances include Rinaldo and Hercules for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Alcina for Bordeaux Opera, Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice for Minnesota Opera and Atlanta Opera, Orfeo ed Euridice and Idomeneo for the Canadian Opera, Vincent Martín y Soler’s L’Arbore di Diana for Barcelona’s Liceu, and Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride for Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Since becoming Artistic Director of the English Concert in 2007 he has toured extensively with that group and has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others.

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this season Giulio Cesare at the Met.met production Anna Bolena (debut, 2011).career highlights He has worked on a number of productions for theater including recent productions of The Full Monty (Sheffield Crucible), Kiss Me, Kate (CFT, Old Vic), A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre), Filumena (Almeida), Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s) and The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium, Toronto). He has worked extensively on productions seen in London’s West End and on Broadway, and has created more than 15 productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Opera work includes Tristan und Isolde in Tokyo, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Paris and Berlin, L’Elisir d’Amore for English National Opera, Manon Lescaut for Gothenburg Opera, Don Carlo for the Frankfurt Opera, and Giulio Cesare for the Glyndebourne Festival, Lille Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He also created production design for the BBC/Royal Shakespeare Company film of Hamlet.

Robert Jonesset designer (london, england)

Brigitte Reiffenstuelcostume designer (munich, germany)

this season Un Ballo in Maschera, Giulio Cesare, and Il Trovatore at the Met.met production Il Trovatore (debut, 2009).career highlights She has designed costumes for Covent Garden that including Falstaff (also for La Scala), Adriana Lecouvreur (also for Barcelona, Vienna, and the Paris Opera), Faust (also in Lille, Monte Carlo, Trieste, and Valencia) and Elektra; for English National Opera, including Lucrezia Borgia, Peter Grimes (also Oviedo, De Vlaamse Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin), Tosca, La Damnation de Faust, Lucia di Lammermoor (also for Gothenburg Opera, Washington National Opera, and Canadian Opera) and Boris Godunov; for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, including Giulio Cesare (also in Chicago and Lille); and for Opera North, including Rigoletto, Macbeth (also New Zealand Opera), and Il Trovatore (also Opera Ireland). Additional work includes Don Giovanni (La Scala), Les Pêcheurs de Perles, and Madama Butterfly (Santa Fe), Il Trovatore (San Francisco, Chicago), Don Carlo (Frankfurt), Billy Budd and The Makropulos Case (Chicago), Lulu (Munich), Semele (Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Elysées), and Macbeth (Houston, Chicago). Future productions include a Verdi triple bill in Hamburg and The Queen of Spades in Zurich.

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this season Giulio Cesare at the Met.met productions Anna Bolena, Don Giovanni, and Satyagraha (debut, 2008).career highlights She received the 2011 Tony Award for the Broadway production of War Horse and London’s Olivier Award for Don Carlos at the Gielgud Theatre, His Dark Materials at the National Theatre, and The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse. Operatic engagements include Carmen, Faust, Rigoletto, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, and Macbeth for Covent Garden; Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Billy Budd, Giulio Cesare, Carmen, La Bohème, and Rusalka at Glyndebourne; Idomeneo, Satyagraha, and Peter Grimes for English National Opera; Così fan tutte for the Los Angeles Opera; and L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Semele, and Agrippina for Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. She recently completed work on David McVicar’s production of Wagner’s Ring cycle in Strasbourg and Tristan und Isolde in Tokyo.

Paule Constable lighting designer (brighton, england)

this season Giulio Cesare at the Met.met productions Don Giovanni (debut, 2000) and Anna Bolena. career highlights In the United States he has provided choreography for productions of Der Fliegende Höllander for New York City Opera and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Giulio Cesare for Lyric Opera of Chicago. His U.K. credits include Les Troyens, Adriana Lecouvreur, and Salome for Covent Garden; The Turn of the Screw, Der Rosenkavalier, Agrippina, and The Handmaid’s Tale for English National Opera; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Giulio Cesare, and Carmen for the Glyndebourne Festival; The Rake’s Progress and La Traviata (also Welsh National Opera) for Scottish Opera; and Der Rosenkavalier for Scottish Opera and Opera North. He has also choreographed productions for La Scala, the Netherlands Opera, Berlin State Opera, Salzburg Festival, Frankfurt Opera, Tokyo’s New National Theatre, Brussels’s La Monnaie, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra National du Rhin, and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, among others, as well as completing work on his third Ring cycle in Strasbourg.

Andrew Georgechoreographer (london, england)

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The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

this season Cornelia in Giulio Cesare at the Met and English National Opera, Calbo in Rossini’s Maometto II for her debut at the Santa Fe Opera, Zenobia in Handel’s Radamisto at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and on tour with Harry Bicket and the English Concert, and Lady Rich in Britten’s Gloriana at Covent Garden.met appearances Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried and Cornelia (debut, 2007).career highlights Saariaho’s Adriana Mater and the title role of Orlando for the Paris Opera; the title role of Giulio Cesare and the Nurse in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue in Barcelona; Andronico in Tamerlano in Los Angeles and with the Washington National Opera; Maria in Mosè in Egitto, Edwige in Guillaume Tell, and Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress (Laurence Olivier Award nomination) for Covent Garden; and Azucena in Il Trovatore and Carmen for Welsh National Opera. She has also sung Rosmira in Partenope for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the title role of Rinaldo in Cologne, Penelope in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria with the Berlin State Opera, Angelina in La Cenerentola in Brussels, and Tancredi and Arsace in Semiramide in Venice.

Patricia Bardonmezzo-soprano (dublin, ireland)

this season Sesto in Giulio Cesare at the Met, Leonore in La Favorite at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Nicklausse/The Muse in Les Contes d’Hoffmann with the San Francisco Opera.met appearances Hansel in Hansel and Gretel, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (debut, 2006) and Sesto in Giulio Cesare.career highlights Cherubino at Covent Garden and with the Scottish Opera, Hansel at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Covent Garden, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice and Poppea in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at English National Opera, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier in Geneva, Charlotte in Werther in Frankfurt, Ruggiero in Alcina with San Francisco Opera and at the Edinburgh Festival, the title role of Ariodante at Paris’s Bastille Opera, the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Salzburg Festival, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Welsh National Opera, Nerone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Festival, and Cherubino, Penelope in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, and Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Opera North.

Alice Cootemezzo-soprano (cheshire, england)

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this season Nireno in Giulio Cesare for his debut at the Met.career highlights Apollo in Mozart’s Apollo et Hyacinthus and the Postman in Menotti’s Pinocchio at the Lyon Opera, Nutrice in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Aix-en-Provence Festival, and Nireno at the Glyndebourne Festival, Paris Opera, and in Bordeaux and Lille. He has also sung Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Toulon, Bordeaux, and Caen and appeared in concerts of Arabic music with his ensemble, Zephyr al Andalous, in Marrakech, Tanger, Granada, and Lille.

Rachid Ben Abdeslamcountertenor (rabat, morocco)

this season Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at the Met, Marie in La Fille du Régiment at Paris’s Bastille Opera, and Olympia, Antonia, and Giulietta in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the San Francisco Opera and in Barcelona.met appearances Lucia di Lammermoor, Violetta in La Traviata, Amina in La Sonnambula, Marie, the Fiakermilli in Arabella (debut, 1994), Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Juliette in Roméo et Juliette. career highlights She has sung Violetta at the Vienna State Opera and Aix-en-Provence Festival, Cleopatra and the title role of Manon at the Paris Opera, and Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande in Glasgow and at the Theater an der Wien. She has also sung Amina at La Scala, Lucia with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Paris Opera, Manon in Chicago and Barcelona, Marie with the Vienna State Opera and at Covent Garden, and Ophélie in Thomas’s Hamlet at Covent Garden, Paris’s Châtelet, and in Geneva, Toulouse, and Barcelona.

Natalie Dessaysoprano (lyon, france)

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this season The title role of Giulio Cesare at the Met and Michigan Opera Theatre, the title role in the world premiere of Theodore Morrison’s Oscar at the Santa Fe Opera, Tirinto in Handel’s Imeneo at London’s Barbican Hall, and the title role of Handel’s Radamisto at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and on tour with Harry Bicket and the English Concert.met appearances Prospero in The Enchanted Island, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Giulio Cesare and Sesto (debut, 1999) in Giulio Cesare, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Bertarido in Rodelinda.career highlights Recent performances include Arsamene in Handel’s Serse with the San Francisco Opera; the title role in Handel’s Rinaldo, Lichas in Handel’s Hercules, and Oberon in Chicago; Roberto in Vivaldi’s Griselda in Santa Fe; and Orfeo with the Minnesota Opera. He has also sung Arsamene with Houston Grand Opera, Giulio Cesare at the Glyndebourne Festival, Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Los Angeles, the title role of Handel’s Orlando with Munich’s Bavarian State Opera, Arsace in Partenope and Orfeo in Chicago, and Bertarido in San Francisco.

David Danielscountertenor (spartanburg, south carolina)

The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

this season Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare at the Met and Paris Opera and Disinganno in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien.met appearances Unulfo in Rodelinda (debut, 2006).career highlights He has sung Tolomeo at the Paris Opera, in Versailles, and for debuts in 2012 at the Salzburg Festival and Zurich Opera, the title role of Rinaldo at the Glyndebourne Festival, the title role of Tamerlano at Charleston’s Spoleto Festival, the title role of Orlando at Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Festival and in Paris, Geneva, and Madrid. He made his professional debut in 2002 as Eustazio in Rinaldo in Montpellier and has also sung Hamor in Handel’s Jeptha and Apollo in Britten’s Death in Venice at the Theater an der Wien and Unulfo with the Dallas Opera. He appeared in concert performances of Semele and Giulio Cesare with mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli at Paris’s Salle Pleyel.

Christophe Dumauxcountertenor (cuiry-lès-chaudardes, france)

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The Cast and Creative Team CONTINUED

this season Achilla in Giulio Cesare for his debut at the Met and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival.career highlights He recently sang Leporello in Don Giovanni for his debut at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito for his debut at Madrid’s Teatro Real, and Escamillo in Carmen in Cagliari. He has also sung Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin and in Liége, Marcello in La Bohème at Turin’s Teatro Regio, and Ford in Falstaff, Schaunard in La Bohème, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Achilla at Glyndebourne. He was a member of La Scala’s Young Artists Accademia where he appeared as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Paolo in concert performances of Simon Boccanegra.

Guido Loconsolobaritone (milan, italy)

this season Curio in Giulio Cesare and Simonetto in Francesca da Rimini at the Met and Donald in Billy Budd at the Glyndebourne Festival.met performances Papageno in The Magic Flute, Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (debut, 2008), Donald, and Yamadori in Madama Butterfly.career highlights Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Welsh National Opera, Lorenzo in Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming at Minnesota Opera, the title role of Eugene Onegin with Des Moines Metro Opera, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, and the world premiere of Peter Lieberson’s The Coming of Light with Chicago Chamber Musicians. He is a graduate of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

John Moorebaritone (spencer, iowa)