Händel - Admeto, Re di Tessaglia (C Major, Unitel Classica)

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When one of Germany`s most famous filmmakers and stimulating operatic directors focuses her creativity on a rarely performed Handel opera, the result is a "mixture of dancers and singers, comedy and pathos" (The Times). "Admeto", one of Handel`s most popular operas in his lifetime, was premiered in London in January 1727. Doris Dörrie, whose Japan-inspired feature film "Cherry Blossoms - Hanami" was a major German box-office hit and won several international awards, returns to her beloved Japan in this production. Flowing robes, translucent panels and the participation of Japan`s Mamu Dance Theater and ist choreographer/dancer Tadashi Endo add an evocative dimension to the work whose lead roles were written for a popular castrato and two rivaling primadonnas. Sensitively directed for video by Agnes Méth, who worked with Dörrie on Mozart`s "La finta giardiniera" at the Salzburg Festival the opera is played by Nicholas McGegan`s FestspielOrchester Göttingen on period instruments. For this production, a coproduction of the Internationale Händel- Festspiele in Göttingen and the Edinburgh International Festival on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Handel`s death, Doris Dörrie was awarded the Edinburgh Festival`s prestigious Herald Angel Award.

01. Georg Freidrich Händel: Admeto, Re di Tessaglia