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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 here.

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

CD Carlo il Calvo released

Parnassus Arts Productions is happy to announce the release of the brand-new Carlo il Calvo CD.

The details:

CARLO IL CALVO, Opera by Nicola Antonio Porpora
World premiere recording with Max Emanuel Cencic (Lottario), Franco Fagioli (Adalgiso), Julia Lezhneva (Gildippe), Suzanne Jerosme (Giuditta), Bruno De Sà (Berardo), Petr Nekoranec (Asprando) and Nian Wang (Eduige).

Parnassus Arts Productions (label), Armonia Atenea (orchestra), George Petrou (conductor).

A co-production with BR - Bayerischer Rundfunk.
The premiere of the new staged production Carlo il Calvo took place on 3rd September 2020 at the Margravial Opera House as part of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival.
Special thanks to The Linbury Trust for their support of Armonia Atenea.

You can order the CD here:

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jpc

parnassus-shop

Thanks for your order!

Announcing Bayreuth Baroque 2023

BAYREUTH BAROQUE OPERA FESTIVAL: 07-17 September 2023
For the first time with two staged opera productions and exclusive concerts

The BAYREUTH BAROQUE opera festival presents its fourth edition and will offer two staged opera productions for the first time in autumn 2023. For the opening of the festival, Max Emanuel Cencic (artistic director) will present us his take on Handel’s Flavio, Re de’ Longobardi. A political satire with which the composer took the stereotypes of the heroic opera in his stride, surprising not only the London audience of the time.
Max Emanuel Cencic will stage the production of Flavio and sing the role of Guido alongside with Julia Lezhneva (Emilia), Yuriy Mynenko (Vitige), Remy Bres-Feuillet (Flavio), Sreten Manojlovic (Gismondo) and Fabio Trümpy (Ugone). Benjamin Bayl will conduct Concerto Köln, who are the residence orchestra of the festival 2023.

The second production takes us back to the birth of opera with Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, which is translated into the 21st century with transcriptions, live electronics and partly newly composed music. Rolando Villazón embodies the title role of this exciting new version of L’Orfeo. In its Germany premiere, Markellos Chryssicos will conduct his orchestra Latinatas Nostra.

Continue reading the PDF with the full program.

Box offices will open at www.bayreuthbaroque.de from 27 January 2023, 9am on.

We’r very much looking forward to welcome you at Bayreuth Baroque 2023 !