Handel: Ariodante – starring Cecilia Bartoli & Rolando Villazón

Court intrigue, shifting identities and emotional manipulation: the many themes of Handel’s Ariodante are brought into sharp focus in this 2017 Salzburg Festival production directed by Christof Loy and starring Cecilia Bartoli. Baroque ornament is stripped away to reveal the opera’s psychological tensions with unusual clarity, while Bartoli’s virtuoso central portrayal is matched by superb performances from Rolando Villazón, Kathryn Lewek, Sandrine Piau and Christophe Dumaux. In the pit, Gianluca Capuano leads Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco in a performance that bristles with colour and theatricality.