Conductor

The myth of the Thracian minstrel Orpheus, whose singing not only moved humans and animals but also brought rocks and the gods of death to tears, tells of the inextricable intertwining of love and music. After his wife Eurydice dies from the bite of a poisonous snake, Orpheus descends into the underworld to beg for a second life for Eurydice. With his music, he appeases the spirits of hell, who then grant Eurydice her return to the world of the living. But on the way up, the couple must pass one more test: Orpheus is not allowed to look for Eurydice until the two have returned to the surface.

Orfeo and Euridice

Stadttheater Klagenfurt

Giulio Cesare has defeated his enemy Pompeo and chased him all the way to Egypt. Against Caesare's will, however, Pompeo was then executed by the Egyptian king Tolomeo. The wife and son of the slain man swear to avenge him. Cleopatra, meanwhile, wants the Egyptian throne all to herself. In order to get it, she must get rid of her brother Tolomeo and win Cesare's support. She seduces him, he falls for her - and makes Cleopatra Queen of Egypt.

Julius Caesar in Egypt

Theater Duisburg

Kicking off this “Italian” Handel Festival is the historic revival of the first Italian version of Alexander’s Feast. It was an English Lord who infected the Grand Duke of Tuscany – later Emperor Leopold II – with a love of Handel’s oratorios. On 21 April 1768, the first ever performance of Alexander’s Feast on the continent took place in Lord Cowper’s villa outside the gates of Florence, followed two days later by a performance

EPSG:4326

Alexander's Feast

Halle Cathedral

The Marriage of Alessandro

Dom zu Halle

Italy has always been a place of longing. For centuries, the country and its ancient cultural treasures have served as a source of inspiration for poets and thinkers. Artists and composers - mostly young men from good families - traditionally set off for the south in their youth and brought home groundbreaking ideas that constantly renewed local art. Georg Friedrich Handel's cantata "Il Delirio amoroso" was written at the beginning of his study trip in Rome in 1707, but the 22-year-old could not get enough of Italy - his trip lasted an incredible four years! Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy stopped off in the same cities more than a century later: Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples, among others, inspired him to write his "Italian" symphony. It exudes a light, southern charm and conjures up images of his journey.

7th Symphony Concert

Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Halle

Enjoy a festive concert featuring works by the Baroque master Georg Philipp Telemann. The centerpiece is the dramma per musica "Ich sonst beglücktes Land" (I, otherwise blessed land), an occasional piece from 1711, which was only recently rediscovered and has now been researched and published for the first time by students at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. The program also includes works from the same period of the composer's life at the beginning of the 18th century: the colorful Overture Suite in D major with its magnificent trumpet sounds, the virtuosic Concerto in D major for two violins, and the solemn Magnificat in C major. Discover these lesser-known works by Telemann with the Handel Festival Orchestra!

Handel Festival Orchestra on tour

Gesellschaftshaus Magdeburg

A great journey into the inner human being: This is Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion , perhaps the most significant religious musical work of the 18th century, which can still touch us today as it did 300 years ago: with its story of faith and doubt, of loyalty and betrayal, of hope and despair. In contrast to its dramatic sister, the St. John Passion , the focus of the St. Matthew Passion is on the inner journey that we all take when we relive and experience the suffering of Jesus Christ. And the St. Matthew Passion is not just a work for believers, for those connected to the Christian religion, but it also questions our values, our relationship to life and death, to this world and the next. The scope and instrumentation are larger, more powerful than in the St. John Passion : two choirs and two orchestras are contrasted, symbolizing the earthly and the divine spheres.

Conductor

Attilio Cremonesi

Events

Upcoming events

Jan 25 - Mar 4, 2026

Orfeo and Euridice · Stadttheater Klagenfurt

Mar 16, 2026

Handel Festival Orchestra on tour · Staatskapelle Halle

Apr 3, 2026

St. Matthew Passion · Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Jun 6, 2026

4th Concert of the Handel Festival Orchestra · Staatskapelle Halle

Past events

Jan 25 - Mar 4, 2026

Orfeo and Euridice · Stadttheater Klagenfurt

Nov 25, 2025 - Jan 18, 2026

Julius Caesar in Egypt · Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in Orfeo ed Euridice by Gluck

Stadttheater Klagenfurt

Conductor in Symphony No. 4 by Mendelssohn

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Ouverture-Suite by Telemann

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Overture No. 1 by Bach

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Delirio amoroso: Da quel giorno fatale by Händel

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in The Marriage of Alessandro by Händel

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Julius Caesar in Egypt by Händel

Deutsche Oper am Rhein

Conductor in St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 by Bach

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Conductor in I otherwise blessed land by Telemann

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Concerto for 2 Violins by Telemann

Staatskapelle Halle

Conductor in Magnificat in C major by Telemann

Staatskapelle Halle

About

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