Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, a story of violence with wonderful music

BarcelonaThere are many reasons not to miss the opera. Giulio Cesare, which will have six performances at the Liceu from May 25 to June 7. One is obvious: Handel's masterpiece, premiered in 1724 in London, is one of the musical peaks of the Baroque. In addition, the Rambla theater is programming it staged and not in a concert version as is too often the case with the repertoire of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries in Barcelona. The other attractions are detailed by the artistic director of the Liceu, Víctor Garcia de Gomar. "There are five ingredients that make these performances very relevant. The first, Xavier Sabata (Julius Caesar). It was necessary for him to do a Handel at the Liceu," says De Gomar, praising Avià's countertenor, who in July 2023 was "a tremendous Ottone, musically exquisite and acting-wise super to The coronation of Poppea by Monteverdi, as noted by the ARA critic, Jaume Radigales. The second is the French soprano Julie Fuchs, crowned as Poppea in that same production and now transformed into Cleopatra. "She's a fantastic Mozartian and Monteverdian," recalls De Gomar.

The third "ingredient" is Calixto Bieito, stage director of that Coronation and now at the helm of a production of Giulio Cesare shared by the Liceu and the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, where it premiered in 2023. The fourth is named after a legend of music performed with historical criteria: William Christie, the founder ofensemble Baroque Les Arts Florissants. Finally, there is the Liceu Symphony Orchestra, which Christie has transformed into a Baroque orchestra of around thirty musicians who will play with "antique instruments or copies of antique instruments." "We are creating a new orchestra. And it plays as well as or better than many Baroque orchestras. Yes, we are witnessing the birth of a great Liceu Baroque orchestra," exclaims Christie, enthusiastic about the quality and, above all, the attitude of the musicians in rehearsals. He wasn't entirely sure, he admits, because it is not easy to lead a symphony orchestra towards Baroque subtlety. "But the miracle has happened," he says.

With the same enthusiasm, he speaks of the cast headed by Sabata and Fuchs, and completed by Jan Antem (Curio), Teresa Iervolino (Cornelia), Helen Charlston (Sesto), Cameron Shahbazi (Tolomeo), José Antonio López (Achilla), and Alberto Miguélez Rou. The eight also take on the choral parts. "It's an opera for soloists, and since we have eight, they also sing from the heart," Christie reports.

Powerful like Beyoncé

Giulio Cesare It's an opera about an ancient power struggle starring Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, two characters traversed by "violence, sadism, desire, and corruption," in the words of Astrid van den Akker, the production's curator. Bieito's stage direction, striking as usual, projects this context by reproducing "the vanity and opulence" of the "circles of the rich and powerful." Set designer Rebecca Ringst was inspired by the Saudi Arabian pavilion at the 2020 Dubai World Expo, placing a "digital box" with mirrors and screens in the center that acts as an awning in the desert as it projects nightmares and sadism. Both Julius Caesar and Cleopatra move through this space. Incidentally, when Julie Fuchs is asked to which current politics the last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt could be compared to, the soprano hesitates. "It's hard to say... There's something about Beyoncé, about her power. But these days, very intelligent people don't get involved in politics; they have other things to defend," she says. She has fewer hesitations when describing the vocal demands of a role with "seven very different arias." "I like the possibility of using my voice with all these colors. Cleopatra is a gift for a soprano like me," Fuchs adds.

For Xavier Sabata, this Giulio Cesare He considers "very personal" things related to Christie, Bieito, and De Gomar. "Without them, I wouldn't have become the singer I am," he admits. Sabata recalls. "And Calixto Bieito and I fell in love professionally, making The great macabre Ligeti, when he showed me the importance of poetry and emotional involvement in interpretation. Infinite gratitude," says the countertenor, who also praises Julie Fuchs, his "partner in crime" in this Giulio Cesare which has raised so many expectations.