PRESS KIT 2018 Handel Festival Halle in Halle (Saale) since 1922 May 25 – June 10, 2018 Media contact: Maria Scheunpflug Press and PR Officer Tel.: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 126 Fax: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 416 PRESS KIT Email: [email protected] for the opening of the 2018 Handel Festival programme, a music festival in authentic venues in the city of George Frideric Handel’s birth, Halle an der Saale May 25, 2018, 2pm, Chamber Music Hall of Handel House Grosse Nikolaistrasse 5, D-06108 Halle (Saale) With: Dr. Bernd Wiegand, Mayor of the City of Halle / President of the Handel House Foundation Board of Trustees Samir Savant, Festival Director of the London Handel Festival Leo Duarte, Musical Director of “Ormisda” Clemens Birnbaum, Director of the Handel House Foundation / Executive Director of the Handel Festival Halle Musical accompaniment: Musicians from Opera Settecento conducted by Leo Duarte Ormisda, HWV A3: 1. Presto from the Ouverture 2. Infelice abbandonata - A-section only 3. È quella la bella - A-section only 4. Sentirsi dire - A-section only 1 PRESS KIT 2018 Handel Festival Halle Contents in Halle (Saale) since 1922 May 25 – June 10, 2018 2018 Handel Festival “Foreign Worlds” Pages 3 – 4 New: Visitor information Page 5 Media contact: Maria Scheunpflug Operas at the Handel Festival Pages 6 - 8 Press and PR Officer Other staged performances Pages 9 - 10 Tel.: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 126 Fax: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 416 Oratorios and sacred music Pages 10 - 11 Email: [email protected] World premieres and new productions Pages 11 - 12 Gala concerts with international stars Pages 12 – 13 New: Broadcasts and concert recordings at the Handel Festival Page 14 The Handel Festival breaks new ground Pages 14 - 16 A new partnership: Handel Festival Halle and the London Handel Festival are working together Page 16 International Academic Conference Page 16 Admission-free and family events Pages 17 - 18 “Foreign Worlds” – reflections on the festival theme Pages 18 – 19 New: Official start of advance ticket sales for Handel in Autumn Page 19 2018 Handel Prize winner Page 20 New: Jesse Siebenberg (Supertramp) at Bridges to Classics Page 21 The Handel House Foundation museums during the festival Page 22 Facts and figures Pages 23 – 24 Patrons and sponsors Page 25 Inserts: Press release by Lotto-Toto GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt Press release by HWG Hallesche Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH Press release by Stadtwerke Halle GmbH 2 PRESS KIT 2018 Handel Festival Halle 2018 Handel Festival: “Foreign Worlds” in Halle (Saale) since 1922 From May 25-June 10, 2018, Halle an der Saale will once again be the scene of a May 25 – June 10, 2018 glittering Handel Festival. Under the title “Foreign Worlds”, during the 17 days of the festival more than 100 events making up the main and secondary programmes will be taking place in and around the city of the composer’s birth in celebration of its Media contact: Maria Scheunpflug great son while also providing some extraordinary musical experiences in authentic Press and PR Officer venues. Tel.: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 126 Fax: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 416 The new production of Berenice, Regina d’Egitto, HWV 38, at Halle Opera on the Email: [email protected] first day of the festival will close the final gap in the repertoire after nearly 100 years: all 42 of the composer’s operas will then have been performed in his home city since the revival of Handel’s operas began, with Orlando, in the year 1922. This first per- formance of Berenice, Regina d’Egitto is based on the Halle Handel Edition – just like a further eight works. The Handel Festival will be presenting eight operas, three oth- er staged performances, three oratorios, six gala concerts and a number of events that cross all genres. The festival brings together stars of the international Baroque music scene. Among other artists, visitors will have the chance to hear, in live per- formances, several-time Grammy award winner Joyce DiDonato, sopranos Julia Lezhneva and Sophie Karthäuser, mezzo-sopranos Magdalena Kožená and Ann Hal- lenberg, alto Nathalie Stutzmann and countertenors Max Emanuel Cencic and Xavier Sabata. Further musical enjoyment will be provided by internationally renowned ensembles such as Il Pomo d’Oro, under the musical direction of Maxim Emel- yanychev, John Butt and the Dunedin Consort, and La Cetra Barockorchester con- ducted by Andrea Marcon. As in past years, bridges will also be built to other music genres, including jazz, electro and rock music. And a number of concerts will be entering into a thrilling musical dialogue with other cultures, such as Turkish and Persian music. The motto bannering the 2018 Handel Festival, “Foreign Worlds”, will be omnipres- ent, with the International Academic Conference also turning its attention to this theme. During the course of his life, Handel got to know foreign languages, coun- tries, cultures and religions. In his music he overcame barriers time and again, trans- porting listeners to faraway places and sometimes even to fairytale worlds. Has Handel’s world now become alien to us? Or is there also much that is familiar to us? We invite you to come and investigate these exciting questions. The programme also includes an anniversary: in 1968, the Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt was a venue of the Handel Festival for the first time. During these 50 years, this historic theatre has become an established part of the festival. This year, the famous Lautten Compagney Berlin under the musical direction of Wolfgang Katschner will be staging Handel’s serenata Parnasso in festa, HWV 73, and the Prague Baroque ensemble Musica Florea the opera pasticcio Muzio Scevola, HWV 13. This will be the first staged performance of Muzio Scevola in its entirety since the eighteenth century. This German premiere will take place at the Carl Maria von We- ber Theatre in Bernburg. Bach Consort Wien with Rubén Dubrovsky and selected soloists will be performing Handel’s Oreste, HWV A11. 3 PRESS KIT 2018 Handel Festival Halle But the Handel Festival will also be breaking completely new ground in the year ahead. Besides the tried, tested and ever more popular Baroque Lounges, we will for the first time be a holding poetry slam, with the theme of “Foreign Worlds”. Baroque in Halle (Saale) since 1922 May 25 – June 10, 2018 music and poetry slams – what a strange combination. Are they compatible at all? We’re looking forward to finding out, taking our example from Handel. We will also be developing our partnership with the London Handel Festival. The Media contact: Maria Scheunpflug Handel Singing Competition has already launched many an international singing Press and PR Officer career. For this first time, two prize winners of the 2017 competition will be present- Tel.: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 126 ing a lunchtime concert in Handel House, Halle. Admission is free – as it is for nu- Fax: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 416 Email: merous other events at this year’s Handel Festival. For example, visitors can look [email protected] forward to the 16th Organ Night, a night-time concert, the International Academic Conference, lectures on selected events, Handel for Brass on Domplatz and the Fami- ly Festival in the courtyard of Handel House, all admission-free. Clemens Birnbaum, director of the Handel House Foundation and the Festival’s ex- ecutive director, is ecstatic: “That is a unique record, unrivalled anywhere in the world: eight different staged Baroque music productions in just 17 days. Visitors can hear works that have not been performed in this way since the eighteenth century, or which are new productions or even world premieres. Moreover, we will be build- ing bridges to other music genres and other cultures. I am delighted that we are once again able to celebrate a great Baroque music festival that is second to none. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the City of Halle, the State of Saxony- Anhalt and the federal government, as well as our numerous partners, patrons and sponsors, of whom I will cite just Lotto Sachsen-Anhalt, Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstif- tung and Saalesparkasse. Although “foreignness” is the theme of this year’s festival, all this shows that more than 250 years after Handel’s death the music of the Halle- born composer, far more than alienating us, still touches us as deeply as ever.“ 4 PRESS KIT 2018 Handel Festival Halle New: Visitor information The 2018 Handel Festival Visitors’ Office in Handel House is open daily from May in Halle (Saale) since 1922 23 to June 10, from 10am to 6pm. May 25 – June 10, 2018 Visitors to the Handel Festival still have a good chance of getting tickets for numer- ous events from the Visitors’ Office of Handel House in Halle (Grosse Nikolaistras- Media contact: se. 5, Grosser Innenhof), or at the box office. Maria Scheunpflug Press and PR Officer If you want to find out more about this year's Handel Festival, we recommend read- Tel.: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 126 Fax: +49 (0) 345 / 500 90 416 ing the festival magazine, available for the price of €3. This provides full festival Email: [email protected] information, with interesting features on the performers, background information on performances and much more besides. Information on ticket sales Tip 1: Family tickets for the closing concert: one child under 14 accompanied by one adult paying the full ticket price pays only ten euros. Tip 2: Tickets for Bridges to Classics and the closing concert entitle holders to free transport on MDV vehicles in tariff zone 210 from two hours before the start of the event and for two hours after the end.