Orlando

The famous warrior Orlando is head over heels in love with the pagan princess Angelica, who is in turn in love with an African prince. The story of their love triangle is the departure point for George Frideric Handel's opera Orlando, which was first performed in London in 1733. The hopeless situation drives Orlando to madness; only the magician Zoroastro can restore his sanity. This new production by the departing director of the Holland Festival and director of the National Opera Pierre Audi premiered in April 2012 at La Monnaie in Brussels and will have its Dutch premiere at the Holland Festival. The musical direction is in the accomplished hands of Handel and baroque expert René Jacobs, conducting the young baroque orchestra B’Rock.

Just as with his operas Alcina and Ariodante, Handel found his subject matter for Orlando in Ludovico Ariosto's 16th century epic Orlando furioso, about the famous warrior in Charlemagne's army of paladins. Although Handel wrote this 'opera in seria in tre atti' for a small cast of five soloists at the height of his career, the work only had limited success in the 18th century. However, since its rediscovery in the 20th century it has grown to become one of Handel's most popular operas, in a large part due to the hallucinatory madness scene.

As Handel has composed an extensive repertoire for the high male voice range, he has always been a major influence on the famous countertenor René Jacobs, who is now chiefly known as a director. In keeping with the usual practice in Handel's time of having these roles for the high male voice sung by castrates, the splendid lead role in Orlando was also intended for this type of voice, Handel writing it for the famous alto castrate Senesino. These days the role is often performed by a mezzo-soprano. This production by Audi and Jacobs sees Bejun Mehta, one of Jacobs' favourite singers, starring in the lead role. Mehta has performed the role before to great acclaim in other productions, including at London's Royal Opera House. In a recent interview, Pierre Audi has also said that Mehta is the best singer for this demanding role.

In an interview for La Monnaie in Brussels, Jacobs explains how the story of Orlando puts the conventions of opera seria under pressure, as the standard da capo aria is a distinctly rational form, which doesn't suit a character who is losing his mind. ‘In the madness scene at the end of the second act, this aria form bursts at the seams, subsequently turning into a succession of accompagnato parts and arioso parts. Similar madness scenes can be found in Vivaldi and Steffani, but Handel's madness scene is deservedly the most famous of them all.’ An accompagnato recitative is a recitative which is accompanied by the whole orchestra, not only by the basso continuo. Handel's frequent use of the form was, according to Jacobs, breaking new ground at the time.

Unlike his other operas, the narrative in Handel's Orlando is rather uneventful. Handel is more interested in the psychological aspect of his protagonist, turning him into a compelling character; difficult to sing, but fascinating to play. In an interview with La Monnaie, director Pierre Audi labelled it a psychological, even philosophical and mythical opera venturing beyond the anecdotal and probing deeper ground. In his contemporary scenic interpretation he has emphatically focused on dramatising the magic in the opera.

The set is conceived as a closed-off space, difficult to access and evoking a feeling of imprisonment. Fire is the dominating element in Audi's spectacular vision – the fire of desire and the fire of destruction. Each of the three acts have their own landscape, but with the same house at the centre of attention, be it in a different form for each act. The sequence of these different forms seems to be in reverse chronology, changing from a house which is destroyed by fire into a Gothic landscape, which according to Audi represents Orlando's nightmare, and finally a house which has been rebuilt, as a symbol of hope. The use of video in this production represents a new element in Audi's theatre language.