Handel Rinaldo starts today at Glyndebourne

Handel's Rinaldo starts today at Glyndebourne, the second new production this season after Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (described HERE and HERE). Rinaldo is one of the great Handel bravura pieces, fabulous music and theatre.  Baroque isn't timid! At its premiere in 1711, the Spectator said that Rinaldo was filled with "Thunder and Lightning, Illuminations, and Fireworks"Please read the full interview with Luca Pisaroni in Opera Today. Very interesting singer. Here is a link to his superb Leporello at Glyndebourne in 2010.
Please also read my review of the Glyndebourne Rinaldo HERE. 

Rinaldo is a chaste Crusader, with whom Armida, Queen of Damascus, falls in love. Trouble is, she's a sorceress and her lover is Argante, the King of the Saracens, one of the feistier Handel anti-heroes. Meaty part, demanding fioratura elaboration, ideal for creating character. Luca Pisaroni's singing it at Glyndebourne today (and will be doing it again in Chicago later this year).

“I really look forward to embodying Argante at Glyndebourne”, he says, “because the music that Handel wrote for Argante is incredibly challenging.” His first aria “Sibillar gl’angui d’Aletto” is not only one of the best-known arias for bass-baritone but also one of the most difficult arias in the entire baroque repertoire." Having sung Tiridate in Handel's Radamisto at Santra Fe Opera, Pisaroni discovered "how exciting it is to portray a ‘bad guy’ on stage.....I had to push myself. It was really rewarding to explore such a dark personality and to get a great response from the audience. In life you never get away with being the bad guy! On an opera stage you do and everyone loves it! "
LOTS OF OTHER CLIPS and pieces on Glyndebourne Handel Rinaldo =- use search box or labels
photo : Marco Borggreve