Friday, December 1, 2023

That was Bayreuth Baroque 2023

With two staged opera productions and 12 top-class concerts in 2023 the still young Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival once again proved that it is long established as one of the top events in the international baroque scene.

With the new production of Handel’s opera Flavio, artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic presented his third successful staging in Bayreuth – luxuriously cast with baroque stars such as Julia Lezhneva, Monika Jägerová, Sreten Manojlović, Rémy Brès-Feuillet, Yuriy Mynenko, Fabio Trümpy, and of course, Cencic himself. This year’s orchestra in residence, Concerto Köln, performed under Benjamin Bayl.

Star tenor Rolando Villazón excelled in Thanos Papakonstantinous’ production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, an experience, also musically reimagined by musician and sound artist Panos Iliopoulos.

In exquisite solo concerts, artists such as Valer Sabadus, Reginald Mobley, Véronique Gens, Maayan Licht, Bruno de Sá, and Dennis Orellana presented the entire range of baroque music. The internationally celebrated tenor and composer Daniel Behle also took the audience on a excursion into Mozart’s realm. Audience and press agreed: “A summit of top-level voices” – we look forward to next year!