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The Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival was honored in the "Best Festival" category at the Oper! Award 2024. Next edition from September 5th to 15th, 2024

The fifth edition of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival is scheduled from 5 till 15/9/2024

20.12.2023

Bayreuth Baroque presents two scenic baroque operas, including an international coproduction for the first time. Advance booking starts on 14 December 2023

The International Opera Awards nominated the still young Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in the category “Best Festival 2023”. Not only this, the magazine Opernwelt nominated it multiple times in various categories and selected Alessandro nell’ Indie (2022) as the opera with the best costumes of the year. The program of Bayreuth Baroque 2024 is setting its sails on expansion course. Once again this year, it is presenting two scenic opera productions: firstly, Ifigenia in Aulide by Nicola Antonio Porpora is being rediscovered after almost three hundred years in a new production by the artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic (5, 7, 13 and 15 September 2024). But not only this: with Antonio Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara and Teatro Pavarotti di Modena an international coproduction is taking place for the first time at the Margravial Opera House (10 and 11 September 2024). Many further events including seven concerts will be breaking ground in their exploration of baroque Bayreuth in various venues. In addition, the 2024 festival has been able to engage two international top baroque ensembles as its festival orchestras: Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and Il Pomo d’Oro under Francesco Corti. Tickets are on sale starting on 14 December 2023.

Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Ifigenia in Aulide has never been performed since 1735. The rediscovered work from the pen of Handel’s greatest rival in London is the second Porpora opera to be presented by Bayreuth Baroque as festival of opera seria. Famous stars of the baroque scene including Max Emanuel Cencic and Lena Belkina will be meeting newcomers in the ascendant, like Dennis Orellana and Jasmin Delfs.
“We’re particularly happy to be presenting a scenic coproduction in Bayreuth 2024 with the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara – Antonio Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso. This is exactly the way we want go,” says intendant and artistic director Max Emanual Cencic.
The second scenic opera production also gathers a top-class ensemble surrounding Yuriy Mynenko in the title role, with orchestral accompaniment by Il Pomo d’oro and Francesco Corti.

Please find the video of the press conference Max Emanuel Cencic and Dr. Ursula Adamski-Störme (in german).

Bayreuth Baroque 2024 is remarkable above all for its focus on the female voice: for example, world-famous Anna Prohaska will be transporting the audience into the heyday of the Hamburg Opera (14 September 2024). There are candlelight concerts in St George’s Church with the sopranos Sandrine Piau (8 September 2024) and Nuria Rial (12 September 2024), also another highlight in the concert with Jakub Józef Orliński. The star counter tenor and break-dancer is presenting his new program, with the title Beyond.
2024 will again feature a continuation of the close media cooperation between Bayreuth Baroque and Bayerischer Rundfunk. Thus there’ll be plenty of opportunities to enjoy these unique performances on TV and streamed, also on Mezzo TV.

You’ll find more information about the complete programme of Bayreuth Baroque 2024, also options to buy tickets at www.bayreuthbaroque.de.

The fifth edition of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival is scheduled from 5 till 15/9/2024

Bayreuth Baroque presents two scenic baroque operas, including an international coproduction for the first time. Advance booking starts on 14 December 2023

The International Opera Awards nominated the still young Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival in the category “Best Festival 2023”. Not only this, the magazine Opernwelt nominated it multiple times in various categories and selected Alessandro nell’ Indie (2022) as the opera with the best costumes of the year. The program of Bayreuth Baroque 2024 is setting its sails on expansion course. Once again this year, it is presenting two scenic opera productions: firstly, Ifigenia in Aulide by Nicola Antonio Porpora is being rediscovered after almost three hundred years in a new production by the artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic (5, 7, 13 and 15 September 2024). But not only this: with Antonio Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso and the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara and Teatro Pavarotti di Modena an international coproduction is taking place for the first time at the Margravial Opera House (10 and 11 September 2024). Many further events including seven concerts will be breaking ground in their exploration of baroque Bayreuth in various venues. In addition, the 2024 festival has been able to engage two international top baroque ensembles as its festival orchestras: Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and Il Pomo d’Oro under Francesco Corti. Tickets are on sale starting on 14 December 2023.

Nicola Antonio Porpora’s Ifigenia in Aulide has never been performed since 1735. The rediscovered work from the pen of Handel’s greatest rival in London is the second Porpora opera to be presented by Bayreuth Baroque as festival of opera seria. Famous stars of the baroque scene including Max Emanuel Cencic and Lena Belkina will be meeting newcomers in the ascendant, like Dennis Orellana and Jasmin Delfs.
“We’re particularly happy to be presenting a scenic coproduction in Bayreuth 2024 with the Teatro Comunale di Ferrara – Antonio Vivaldi’s Orlando Furioso. This is exactly the way we want go,” says intendant and artistic director Max Emanual Cencic.
The second scenic opera production also gathers a top-class ensemble surrounding Yuriy Mynenko in the title role, with orchestral accompaniment by Il Pomo d’oro and Francesco Corti.

Please find the video of the press conference Max Emanuel Cencic and Dr. Ursula Adamski-Störmer (in german).

Bayreuth Baroque 2024 is remarkable above all for its focus on the female voice: for example, world-famous Anna Prohaska will be transporting the audience into the heyday of the Hamburg Opera (14 September 2024). There are candlelight concerts in St George’s Church with the sopranos Sandrine Piau (8 September 2024) and Nuria Rial (12 September 2024), also another highlight in the concert with Jakub Józef Orliński. The star counter tenor and break-dancer is presenting his new program, with the title Beyond.
2024 will again feature a continuation of the close media cooperation between Bayreuth Baroque and Bayerischer Rundfunk. Thus there’ll be plenty of opportunities to enjoy these unique performances on TV and streamed, also on Mezzo TV.

You’ll find more information about the complete programme of Bayreuth Baroque 2024, also options to buy tickets, at www.bayreuthbaroque.de.

Standing ovations for Il Venceslao in Herne

There was a very enthusiastic standing ovation with never-ending applause after the performance  of Il Venceslao (opera by Antonio Caldara) on November 12, 2023 at the Kulturzentrum as part of the Tage der Alten Musik festival. Parnassus Arts Productions has remained true to its reputation as a rediscoverer of unknown baroque operas, some of which have not been performed since the 18th century. In this spirit, we present the revival of Il Venceslao.

The musical direction was in the hands of Martyna Pastuszka, resident conductor of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2022, who led the {oh!} Orkiestra, which she founded, with proven high quality. Star countertenor Max Emanuel Cencic, artistic director of Bayreuth Baroque, singer, director, producer and impresario, shone in the title role. The large and important roles of Lucinda and Casimiro were sung with bravura by Suzanne Jerosme and Nicholas Tamagna

The young Croatian contralto Sonja Runje, who lives in Stuttgart, impressed as Erenice. The German tenor Stefan Sbonnik sang the role of Fernando gloriously. The roles of Gismondo and Alessandro were in the hands of Pavel Kudinov and Dennis Orellana.

We were delighted to have performed this opera on period instruments with the dynamic sound of the orchestra {oh!} Orkiestra.

Il Venceslao cast:

Musical direction: Martyna Pastuszka

Venceslao: Max Emanuel Cencic
Lucinda: Suzanne Jerosme
Casimiro: Nicholas Tamagna
Fernando: Stefan Sbonnik
Erenice: Sonja Runje
Gismondo: Pavel Kudinov
Alessandro: Dennis Orellana

Orchestra: {oh!} Orkiestra

Max Emanuel CENCIC, countertenor, director, festival director of Bayreuth Baroque and producer

Max Emanuel Cencic will be guesting in the role of Tolomeo in a concert version of George Frideric Handel's masterpiece Giulio Cesare from 19 October to 1 November 2023 in Luxembourg (19 Oct), Paris (23, 25 Oct), Brussels (27 Oct), Amsterdam (30 Oct) and Cologne (1 Nov). Alongside Cecilia Bartoli, Kristina Hammerström, Carlo Vistoli, Justin Kangmin Kim, Jose Coca Loza and under the musical direction of Gianluca Capuano, the Giulio Cesare tour will continue in 2024 with staged performances at the Opera de Monte Carlo and the Vienna Staatoper, as well as a concert performance at the Opera royal de Versailles. The orchestra performing will be Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco.

Following the highly successful fourth edition of Bayreuth Baroque 2023, where artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic staged a new production of Handel's opera Flavio and sang the role of Guido, Max Emanuel Cencic is delighted that the international Opera Awards nominated his festival Bayreuth Baroque, which he founded together with Dr. Clemens Lukas and Georg Lang in 2020, as "Festival of the Year 2023". The Opera Awards have been presented since 2013 in conjunction with Opera Magazine, the most prestigious English-language opera magazine. The 2022 winner was the Santa Fe Festival in the USA, and the 2021 winner was the Salzburg Festival. The gala with the announcement of the winners will take place on 9 November at the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw.

The Bayreuth Baroque 2023 new opera production, Flavio (George Frideric Handel) with the beautiful staging by Max Emanuel Cencic (who also sang the part of Guido excellently), under the musical direction of Benjamin Bayl and in collaboration with Helmut Stürmer (stage), Corina Gramosteanu (costumes), Romain de Lagarde (lighting) and Concerto Köln (Resident Orchestra 2023) has received 23 rave reviews to date and can be seen in livestream here.

Toi, toi, toi, dear Max Emanuel!

Carlo il Calvo (by N. A. Porpora) on tour in June 2023

Parnassus Arts Productions will resume its performances of Nicola Antonio Porpora's opera Carlo il Calvo in June 2023.
Two performances in concert version of this magnificent opera will be given on Wednesday, 14th June, at 8 pm at Milano's Scala and on Sunday, 18th June, 6 pm at Dortmund's Konzerthaus as part of the Klangvokalmusik festival.
Musical direction will be in the trusted hands of George Petrou, since 2022 artistic director of the Händelfestspiele Göttingen. Armonia Atenea will perform the concerts.

The three major roles of Adalgiso, Lottario and Gildippe, will, like on the CD and in the Bayreuth Baroque Opernfestival, be sung by star countertenor Franco Fagioli, artistic director of Bayreuth Baroque, singer, director, producer and impresario, Max Emanuel Cencic, and the brilliant Julia Lezhneva.

Young, French, living in Aachen and currently enganged in the role of Manon at Theater Aachen, soprano Suzanne Jerosme, will impress us as Giuditta.
A third countertenor voice will come from male soprano Dennis Orellana as Berardo, who sang this role already in 2021 at the El Escorial Festival and will have his debut at the Salzburger Festspiele with it in this summer.
Eduige will be interpreted by Ambroisine Bre, and the tenor part of Asprando by Stefan Sbonnik.

After the show there will be copies of the new CD Carlo il Calvo offered for purchase. It can be ordered at https://www.parnassus-shop.com/shop/polifemo-pre-order as well.

We are delighted to have Armonia Atenea play this concert on instruments from that period.

Here is the cast:

musical direction: George Petrou

Lottario: Max Emanuel Cencic
Adalgiso: Franco Fagioli
Gildippe: Julia Lezhneva
Giuditta: Suzanne Jerosme
Berardo: Dennis Orellana
Asprando: Stefan Sbonnik
Eduige: Ambroisine Bre

orchestra: Armonia Atenea

We wish all participants a successful performance and the audiences of Milano and Dortmund a wonderful journey into the works of Baroque composer Porpora with a spectacular Carlo in Calvo.

Polifemo by Nicola A. Porpora tours in May 2023

Parnassus Arts Productions and his artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic remain true to their reputation for rediscovering unknown Baroque operas, some of which have not been performed since the 18th century. In this spirit, Parnassus presents the upcoming revival tour of Nicola Antonio Porpora's opera Polifemo.

Two concert performances of this magnificent opera will be presented on Thursday 4 May 2023 at 19:00 in Hall E of the Museumsquartier Wien, which is the venue of the Musiktheater an der Wien under the new artistic directorship of Stefan Herheim, and on Saturday 6 May 2023 at 13:00 as part of the Zaterdaag series in Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. On 27 May 2023 at 19:30, the staged version of Polifemo directed by Max Emanuel Cencic, which was acclaimed by the press and audience in Salzburg, will finally be shown again at the International May Festival at the Hessisches Staatstheater. All information about the Polifemo performance in Wiesbaden and how to order tickets can be found at Staatstheater Wiesbaden.

Max Emanuel Cencic, artistic director of Bayreuth Baroque, singer, director, producer and agent, will stage the production Polifemo in Wiesbaden and will take on the role of Ulisse.

In Wiesbaden there will be an exclusive CD sale of the new Polifemo CD after the performance. In Vienna and Amsterdam the Polifemo CD's can be pre-ordered. You can also order the new recording on the Parnassus webshop. The pre-sale of the Polifemo CD starts on 20 May 2023, the Polifemo CD will be released in September 2023.

Here is an overview of the Polifemo cast:

Musical Director: George Petrou (Vienna, Amsterdam) / Markellos Chryssicos (Wiesbaden).
Director: Max Emanuel Cencic
Set design: Ann-Margit Berger
Costumes: Giorgina Germanou
Light designer: Stella Kaltsou
Video: Sarah Scherer
Assistant director: Constantina Psoma

Ulisse: Max Emanuel Cencic
Aci: Franco Fagioli (Vienna, Amsterdam) / Yuriy Mynenko (Wiesbaden)
Galathea: Julia Lezhneva
Polifemo: Sreten Manojlovic
Calipso: Sonja Runje
Nerea: Rinnat Moriah

Orchestra: Armonia Atenea