In 2025 the Salzburg Festival assembled a stellar cast and an exceptional orchestra for Dmitri Tcherniakov’s challenging but compelling production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. It’s a contemporary setting with all the action taking place in the confines of a bunker, which appears to be sporadically under shell fire. Pretty much all of the issues raised by having all the characters in the small space all the time are cleverly resolved to create a very tightly wrought, tense piece of theatre.
The bunker is claustrophobic and scruffy. People sleep on mattresses on the floor. Water is in short supply. Food comes from cans. Lights flicker and die. Tcherniakov uses this to create some compelling scenes. Pompeo’s body (the whole thing, not just the head) is lying around the whole time and is obviously going off which makes Cornelia’s “Non ha più che temere” quite weird. She’s obviously ecstatic that Sesto has killed Tolomeo and she’s almost dancing around her late husband’s corpse while redoing her make up. Another key moment is the point where Cesare and Curio are supposed to escape into the harbour. Here Curio shoots Cesare and joins the rebels. Except the bullets are blanks allowing Cesare to lie low for the necessary. There are many other interesting touches. There’s also fantastic lighting (Gleb Filshtinsky) and some interesting sound effects. There’s a real sense of being in a bunker in wartime.
As always with Tcherniakov, he has strong views on the characters; some of them perhaps controversial, and here his cast appear to give him what he wants. Christophe Dumaux; one of four countertenors on display, is a very rugged Cesare. He looks and sounds masculine in a way few mezzos could match. He has excellent chemistry with Ukrainian soprano Olga Kulchynska, playing Cleopatra. She’s definitely played as a sex kitten; starting out in leather trousers and a pink jacket and wig but down to just a black slip by the time she and Cesare are getting intimate.
You start to get the intensity of the chemistry in “Tutto può donna vezzosa” where the pair are flirting outrageously. It gets more intense during “V’adoro pupille” and it just gets hotter still during a very physical “Venere bella”. They are both excellent singers too with a complete grasp of the required technique. Kulchynska’s “Da tempeste” shows her really excellent coloratura and some quite elegant ornamentation in the repeat. Dumaux shows his power and precision to advantage in “Va tacito e nascosto”
Cornelia and Sesto are another interesting pair. Lucile Richardot plays Cornelia with considerable dignity despite suffering all kinds of indignities, including what looks very close to rape in Act 3. She has a lovely voice too. Federico Fiorio’s Sesto is just weird. He seems right on the edge of madness most of the time and can hardly hold his gun straight as he shoots Tolomeo but immediately after he launches into a remarkably acrobatic celebration. he also seems to start fights with just about everyone, including his mother. He’s a fine singer too with an appropriately youthful sounding voice. What is odd though is the relationship. At times Cornelia seems to pretty much despise Sesto as whiny and ineffective but immediately after the scene where she is (almost?) raped by Tolomeo she’s clearly coming onto him sexually which is really creepy.
Tolomeo (Yuriy Mynenko) and Nireno (Jake Ingbar) are both really creepy but the crown for creepiness goes to Andrey Zhilikhovsky’s Achilla who makes one’s flesh crawl. All three are excellent singers and actors as is Robert Raso as Curio. There’s really good, stylish singing across the board here. The orchestra is Le Concert d’Astrée with Emmanuelle haim conducting from the harpsichord. They have to be one of the best larger period bands around. The playing is crisp and Haim times things beautifully to maintain tension at key moments. The horns are as good as any valveless horns I’ve heard and David Plantier’s violin solos during “Se fiorito, emeno, prato” ar gorgeous. The Bachchor Salzburg sings off stage and gets the job done.
Video direction is by Andy Sommer and he has a tricky job to do. The stage isn’t huge; we are in the Haus für Mozart, but the set is divided up into “cells” and even when the main action is one there seem to be things going on elsewhere. He does a very decent job of indicating that that is happening but, inevitably, the audience for the video is missing stuff the house audience saw. Sound (the usual PCM Stereo and DTS-HD-MA surround) and picture are standard Blu-ray quality. The booklet has a brief synopsis and a track listing. Subtitles are English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Korean and Japanese.
This is as good a Guilio Cesare musically as any I have seen with an excellent cast and a fantastic orchestra. It’s also really compelling theatre with interesting ideas, well developed relationships and excellent acting. What’s not to like?
Catalogue information: C Major Blu-ray 773304
