Tamerlano-Alcina Double Bill in Paris

Also on Ionarts: Harpsichord Like Rarely Ever [Christophe Rousset recording] (November 2, 2005) Summer Opera: Rameau's Zoroastre in Drottningholm [conducted by Christophe Rousset] (August 17, 2005) Summer Opera: J. C. Bach's Temistocle [conducted by Christophe Rousset] (July 13, 2005)

Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques will be at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris this Sunday, to perform two Handel operas. An article (La puissance tragique de Tamerlano, November 8) by Jean-Louis Validire for Le Figaro provides a preview (my translation):

Tamerlano and Alcina are old friends for Christophe Rousset. He had already performed these two Handel operas in concert version, at the Cité de la musique, first in 2000 and again in 2003. It is a new production, of course, that he is bringing to the Châtelet stage this Sunday. This is a spectacle sharpened in Amsterdam, where the two works met with great success in a scenic production by Pierre Audi, who has worked with Christophe Rousset for many years. He had already collaborated with him for the Tamerlano at Drottningholm, in Sweden, and for the Incoronazione di Poppea. [...]

Tamerlano was composed during a very productive period for Handel, who wrote in the same year, 1724, Rodelinda and Giulio Cesare. Completed quickly, the work was revised to fit the voice of tenor Franco Borosini who performed the role of Bajazet. The American Bruce Ford sings the role in the present version of Christophe Rousset, lending his supple and extended voice to the character who is, moreso than the female roles, the work's most important, by giving him dramatic power, notably in the monumental death scene.

Countertenor Bejun Mehta is Tamerlano ("remarkably mean and demonstrating impeccably virtuosic singing"). I need to move to Paris.