Zurich Opera launches new Early Music festival
This spring, Opernhaus Zürich launches ‘Zurich Barock’, a new strand devoted to 18th-century repertoire, featuring some of today’s luminaries of Baroque music.
One of Switzerland’s leading opera companies, the Opernhaus Zürich will be holding the inaugural edition of ‘Zürich Barock’, a new festival placing Early Music at the centre of its spring programming. The line-up, running from 20 to 29 March, combines a rarely staged French opera with two Handel works and Bach’s major Passions, alongside several high-profile guest artists.
The festival is the brainchild of Matthias Schulz, Artistic Director and General Manager, who took up the post last August. At the heart of the programme is a new production of Scylla et Glaucus, the only opera by Jean-Marie Leclair. Premiered in 1746, the work is seldom performed today and is a notable choice for a major house. Claus Guth directs, returning to Zurich with a piece that blends mythological drama with tightly drawn personal conflict. In the pit, Emmanuelle Haïm leads her period ensemble, Le Concert d’Astrée, bringing established Baroque expertise to a score unfamiliar to many audiences.
Handel features prominently elsewhere in the programme. Giulio Cesare in Egitto is presented in a co-production with the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, directed by Davide Livermore. The staging relocates the action to a modern Nile cruise ship, providing a contemporary frame for one of the composer’s most frequently performed operas. Cecilia Bartoli sings Cleopatra, a role closely associated with her international career, alongside Carlo Vistoli in the title role, and Anne Sofie von Otter as Cornelia.
A second Handel opera, Acis and Galatea, will be given in concert form. Written early in the composer’s career, it already displays the vocal brilliance and dramatic instinct that would define his later stage works. The performance is led by Philippe Jaroussky, who makes his Zurich Opera House debut as a conductor, directing Orchestra La Scintilla.
The concert strand also includes Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions. The former is performed by Orchestra La Scintilla and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie under Florian Helgath. For the St Matthew Passion, Raphaël Pichon appears with Ensemble Pygmalion. Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique, acclaimed as a Baroque specialist, completes the programme with a selection of Handel arias alongside Concerto Köln.
For a first edition, Zürich Barock’s programme achieves a thoughtful balance: an operatic rediscovery, a repertory staple, a conducting debut and two large-scale choral works. As the festival establishes itself, it will likely be on the strength of that blend – familiar titles to draw audiences in and less-travelled paths to justify the journey.
Full information about the first edition of Zürich Barock is available on the Opernhaus Zürich website.