DEIDAMIA

Ai Greci questa spada Singer: Anna Maria Panzarella(Mezzosoprano)

Composer: GFHandel Work: Deidamia...

Handel Panzarella Deidamia

very well executed by the Canadian soprano DOMINIQUE LABELLE

 in the role od Nere from Händel's last opera DEIDAMIA...

Dominique Labelle Deidamia Nerea Baroque Barocco

Soprano Curtisvery well executed by the Canadian soprano

 DOMINIQUE LABELLE in the role of Nerea from Händel's last

 opera DEIDAMIA...

Dominique Labelle Deidamia Nerea Baroque Barocco Soprano Curtis

ACHILLES

 "Alas! I will not see him revenant home to his father's house, a warm to bid him welcome!" When Thetis, Achilles' mother, received divine word on the imminent death of her heroic son, she tried to protect him. She sent him to the palace of king Lycomides of Skyros to hide him. In order for the venture to be completely successful, she disguised him in girl's clothes, so yes, for some time the great hero went about dressed as a woman. Despite his female vesture, the young and impulsive Achilles fell in love with Lycomides' daughter Diademia. Fruit of their love was Pyrros (Neoptolemus), antecessor of Olympias mother of Alexander the Great. They all lived blissfully until the time Calchas the Clairvoyant foresaw that Troy would not fall without Achilles' aid. Here comes on stage the ingenious Ulysses who dashes Thetis plans by undertaking to unveil the hero and convince him to join the campaign against Troy. So Ulysses disguised himself into a merchant and set up his merchandise right outside king Lycomides' palace. He pretended to sell all sorts of textiles and jewels, that absolutely infatuated the ladies of the court, and among them he had a sword. Some women stopped and looked at it full of curiosity, but in the end all of them passed over indifferently. All passed over the sword but one, who stood and examined it with all her interest mustered: Achilles. Ulysses approached him and as an experienced warlord, he promised young Achilles fame and glory should he choose to follow him to war. Achilles agreed without a second thought, thus securing victory against Troy. According to tradition, he set sail from Achilli bay, and thus the name.

 is incredibly well executed by the German soprano

SIMONE KERMES in the role of Deidamia from Händel's last opera DEIDAMIA...

Simone Kermes Deidamia Baroque Barocco Soprano Curtis

Nasconde l'usignolo in alti rami il nido Singer: Simone Kermes (soprano)

Composer: GFHandel Work: Deidamia...Handel Kermes Deidamia

Ama nell'armi e nell'amar Singers: Simone Kermes(soprano)

Anna Bonitatibus(Mezzosoprano) Composer: GFHandel Work: Deidamia...

Handel Kermes Bonitatibus Deidamia

Handel's last opera didn't do well. ''Deidamia'' opened in 1741, ran for three performances and ended his career in Italian opera. After that, he focused exclusively on the English-language oratorios that had newly proved so popular with the public. His next significant work was ''Messiah.'' ''Deidamia'' still isn't an audience draw: there were plenty of empty seats in the Venetian Theater at Caramoor tonight. But the audience that came was enthusiastic. Will Crutchfield, the evening's director and conductor, offered a clever, light-hearted, modern-dress semi-staging of a work that Handel himself referred to as an ''operetta,'' and the young, appealing cast negotiated a large amount of music. The evening bore out Anthony Hicks's assertion, in the Grove Dictionary of Opera, that this opera ''remains a good choice for performance by modest forces in a small theater.'' The story is pretty slender, revolving mainly around the sight gag of the hero in drag. Achilles' father, hearing the prophecy that his son would die if he went to war in Troy, hides him, disguised as a serving girl, at the court of King Lycomedes, where he and the king's daughter, Deidamia, fall in love. Ulysses, hearing the prophecy that he would not win in Troy without Achilles, finds him and takes him off to battle. But Handel's mastery at this point in his career is a major part of the fun. Ideas are applied with the sure hand of an Impressionist painter. A little flick of color can have a decisive and binding effect on the whole composition: flourishes of brass for the hunters' chorus; or Achilles and Deidamia's lovely final duet. (And there are touches of ''Messiah'' as well.) ''Deidamia'' isn't one of Handel's greatest works, but that doesn't mean it's not great listening. Today Handel is seen as the province of fresh young voices, but these aren't always able to do justice to the vocal pyrotechnics he wrote for some of the most experienced stars of his day. That said, this young cast sang gamely, if sometimes cautiously, and showed promise. Kate Aldrich, as Ulysses, had a big, firm voice that she applied with a kind of ferocity that diminished its effect and brought a note of hysteria to her florid passages; her best moments came in her last big aria in Act III, when she pulled back and let the sound flow out of her rather than aggressively hurling it at the audience. As Nerea, Maria Zifchak, another mezzo-soprano, offered solid straightforward singing in the best sense, although she was sometimes carried a little off pitch, and the music sometimes sat a little high to show her to best advantage. Georgia Jarman was very pretty, vocally and physically, in the soprano role of Deidamia; as Achilles, Jennifer Rivera, a mezzo-soprano, had an attractive sound but the same note of hysteria that, in florid passages, seized her body in spasmodic motion and allowed the high notes to get away from her in a kind of shriek. As King Lycomedes...more......FESTIVAL REVIEW; Handel Hero With Touch Of 'Messiah'