We are delighted to present the concert performance of Handel’s grandiose opera Flavio on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 19:00 in Hall E of the Museumsquartier, which has been sold out for weeks, as part of the Musiktheater an der Wien. As in the premiere series at Bayreuth Baroque 2023, the musical direction of this excavation will be in the experienced hands of Benjamin Bayl, who will lead Concerto Köln with his proven high quality. The top-class cast of singers will be led by the exceptional soprano coloratura Julia Lezhneva as Emilia, who celebrated a huge success in a staged production of Messiah at the Gran Teatro Liceu in Barcelona in March 2024. The role of Guido will be performed by star countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, artistic director of Bayreuth Baroque, singer, director, producer and impresario. Following the Flavio performance in Vienna, Max Emanuel Cencic will appear in the role of Tolomeo in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Royal Opera of Versailles in June 2024 and at the Vienna State Opera in July 2024.
Two more fantastic countertenors will be heard in this production: Yuriy Mynenko, who has a proven track record at Zurich Opera, will be singing the role of Vitige. Yuriy sang the title role in Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso at the Ferrara and Modena opera houses in the last two weeks, a role that Yuriy will also sing at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2024. The young male alto Remy Bres-Feuillet from Marseille – this year already as Nireno (Giulio Cesare) at the Salle Garnier in Paris; currently as Megacle in rehearsals for Vivaldi’s L’Olimpiade at the Nice Opera – lends his angelic voice to the title role.
The beautiful-voiced, coloratura-suited German tenor Stefan Sbonnik, who will soon be heard in the title role as Mitridate at Les Festivals de Wallonie Mozart& Co, thankfully stands in at short notice for Fabio Trümphy as Ugone, who is ill. The two wonderful Czech artists, Monika Jägerova as Teodata and Tomas Kral as Lotario, perfectly complement the top-class cast.
We are delighted to be able to present this production with the Baroque orchestra Concerto Köln, which performs magnificently on period instruments. Here is an overview of the cast:
Musical direction: Benjamin Bayl
Emilia: Julia Lezhneva
Guido: Max Emanuel Cencic
Vitige: Yuriy Mynenko
Flavio: Remy Bres-Feuillet
Teodata: Monika Jägerova
Lotario: Tomas Kral
Ugone: Stefan Sbonnik
Orchestra: Concerto Köln
The staged production of Flavio from Bayreuth recorded in September 2023 can still be streamed at this link.
All information about Bayreuth Baroque 2024 at bayreuthbaroque.de.
We wish all the wonderful artists involved every success, the audience in Vienna a wonderful journey of discovery into the operative work of the Baroque master composer George Frideric Handel and a spectacular evening of opera with Flavio.
Many thanks to the Musiktheater an der Wien for the invitation!
