PRESS KIT 2017 Halle Handel Festival
PRESS KIT
for the presentation of the 2017 Handel Festival programme,
the festival in authentic venues
in the city of
George Frideric Handel’s birth
Press Conference
14pm on May 26, 2017, in the Chamber Music Hall of Handel House, Grosse Nikolaistrasse 5, 06108 Halle an der Saale
Patron Prof. Monika Grütters MdB, Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
With: Dr. Bernd Wiegand, Mayor of the City of Halle /
President of the Handel House Foundation Board of Trustees
Dr. Gunnar Schellenberger, Staatssekretär für Kultur des Landes Sachsen-Anhalts, Mitglied des Kuratoriums der Stiftung Händel-Haus
Jana Semerádová, Musical Director (Collegium Marianum and „Acis & Galatea“, May 27, 28 & 30 In the Goethe-Theater in Bad Lauchstädt)
Tatjana Gürbaca, Director („Jephtha“, May 26 & 28 and June 2 & 4 in the Oper Halle)
Christoph Spering, Musical Director („Jephtha“, May 26 & 28 and June 2 & 4 in the Oper Halle)
Clemens Birnbaum, Director of the Handel House Foundation and
Executive Director of the Halle Handel Festival
Musical accompaniment
Jana Semerádová (tranverse flute) / Marek Čermák (harpsichord)
George Frideric Handel
Sonate in e-moll HWV 375
Adagio – Allegro – Grave – Minuet
This press kit is a continuation and update of the press kits of November 2016. Important new entries are marked “New”.
Contents
2017 Handel Festival: “Original? – Counterfeit?” (summary) Pages 3 - 4
The festival theme: “Original? – Counterfeit?” Pages 4 – 5
New: Visitor information Page 6
New: Information on ticket sales Page 6
Operas and ballet performances/new productions Pages 7 - 8
Oratorios Pages 9 - 10
Gala concerts and international stars Pages 11 - 12
Festival classics and crowd-pullers Page 13
Building bridges between different musical genres Page 13
Academic conference Page 14
Free events Page 14
New: Broadcasts and concert recordings at the Handel Festival Page 15
New: Official start of advance ticket sales for Handel in Autumn Page 16
2017 Handel Prize winner Page 17
New: 300 years of Water Music Page 18
New: The Hooters frontman Eric Bazilian at Bridges to Classics Page 18
The Handel House Foundation museums during the festival Page 19
Facts and figures Page 20
Patrons and sponsors Page 21
Press release by Lotto-Toto GmbH Sachsen-Anhalt
Press release by HWG Hallesche Wohnungsgesellschaft mbH
Press release by Stadtwerke Halle GmbH
2017 Handel Festival: “Original? – Counterfeit?”
In Halle an der Saale, you can hear Handel the whole year round, but a very special atmosphere overtakes the city during the Handel Festival in spring. This festival has taken place in Halle every year since 1952 in the venues that marked his early years, and each time, musical milestones are set by top ensembles and artists from all over the world.
Dr. Bernd Wiegand, Mayor of Halle / President of the Handel House Foundation Board of Trustees: “In 2017, the focus of the international Handel Festival will be on Biblical themes in Handel’s works. By choosing this theme, Saxony-Anhalt’s greatest music festival and Halle an der Saale, the city of the composer birth located in the core region of the Reformation, are underscoring the city’s cultural potential. This is attracting international attention quite particularly in the year of the Reformation anniversary which is being observed worldwide, and could provide important impetus for the application of our open-minded, creative and growing city for the title of European Capital of Culture 2025.
In 2017, a fascinating and diverse festival programme awaits visitors once again. The Handel Festival will be officially opened at the Handel Monument on May 26, 2017, by tradition on Marktplatz. During the ensuing 17 festival days, an irresistible mixture of top-notch Baroque, Classical, jazz, electronic and world music by internationally renowned soloists, ensembles and choirs will be enthusing audiences with the theme of “Original – Counterfeit?”. A total of ten ECHO Klassik award winners will be taking the stage, including Il Pomo d'Oro, the Pera Ensemble, Concerto Köln and Lautten Compagney Berlin, as well as the outstanding Vivica Genaux, Ann Hallenberg and Sonia Prina, each of whom will be giving their own gala concert. The celebrated countertenor Xavier Sabata and Spanish tenor Juan Sancho will also be enthralling audiences in gala concerts. Audiences will be able to enjoy magical puppet-theatre performances of Acis and Galatea, HWV49a, and Giustino, HWV 37, in the historic Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt. Anyone who remembers the wonderful puppet production of Rinaldo in 2011 will know that a very special theatre experience awaits visitors. Fans of historically informed performance practice can look forward to a special event in the Carl Maria von Weber Theatre in Bernburg: not only does Musica Florea perform using a historically informed approach; the choreography and costumes of the Hartig Ensemble are also based on historic models.
The 2017 Handel Festival will present five different oratorios in honour of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. The climax of these is set to be the fully staged performance of Jephtha at the Halle Opera. The musical director of this new production is Christoph Spering; the stage director is Tatjana Gürbaca. Messiah, HWV 56, probably Handel’s best-known oratorio, will be performed twice: the Dublin version of 1742 can be heard in Halle Cathedral and the London version of 1743 in the Marktkirche. Also awaiting visitors is a new production of Esther based on the Halle Handel Edition, Deborah, an interfaith project by the Abrahamic world religions, and concerts spanning various musical genres, such as the different Baroque Lounge, jazz and late-night concerts, as well as the open-air events on Domplatz and in Galgenberg Gorge.
Clemens Birnbaum, director of the Handel House Foundation and the Festival’s executive director, is delighted: „Once again, we have succeeded in putting together a multifaceted programme for our visitors from far and wide which will appeal not only to classic Handel lovers. This would not have been possible without the support of numerous partners, including the City of Halle, the State of Saxony-Anhalt and the Federal Government. But my thanks also go to our longstanding partners, such as the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, the Saalesparkasse and Lotto Sachsen-Anhalt. Without their support, we would not have been able to welcome the Czech production of Acis and Galatea, or Messiah, featuring Concerto Köln and the Bavarian Radio Choir in the church where Handel was baptised.”
The festival theme: “Original? – Counterfeit?”
With “Original? – Counterfeit?”, the 2017 Handel Festival picks up on a current and highly controversial issue. At the same time, we have to realise that every original that is reproduced represents another original in its own right. Quite different terms exist to describe this new original, depending on the moral or legal assessment of it, or in relation to its use and exploitation: imitation, replica, copy, borrowing, citation and counterfeit are just some examples. Even back in the eighteenth century, copyright, pirate editions, counterfeits, etc., were an issue. Handel himself tried to defend himself against the unauthorised reproduction of his compositions by requesting from the king of England a royal Privilege for printing his works, which he received in 1720. An early copyright act had even been passed in England in 1710: the Statute of Anne. Handel himself, on the other hand, used the music of other composers without hesitation, without asking and without acknowledgement. In musicology, this is called “borrowing”. These borrowings ranged from single musical themes to whole arias. It has to be stated that Handel used this technique extensively, more than virtually any other composer of the time, and that it therefore represents a fundamental characteristic of his compositional style. So what, given the context, should we regard as the actual original? Why are Handel's pasticci, that is, new operas which Handel compiled from works by other composers or his own, listed in the appendix to the index of his works, while his oratorio Deborah, which was also largely compiled from extant works of his own, was included in the main index? Also, when you consider that numerous of Handel’s oratorios and operas have come down to us in several versions, the question of which version is the original is even more pertinent. Or are they all originals? And let us point out another difficulty facing Handel researchers: various copies (or are they pirated versions?) of diverse works by Handel have come down to us, while in other manuscripts works are ascribed to Handel erroneously (or is it a case of conscious forgery?). We are always having to ask ourselves the question of what, in Handel’s work, is actually the original.
The Handel House Foundation would like to thank all those without whose support the Handel Festival could not take place. These are, first and foremost, the festival's founder, the City of Halle an der Saale, and the State of Saxony-Anhalt. The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media has also for the past few years co-funded one major festival project, for which she has our sincerest thanks. We are very much obliged to our local partner, the Saalesparkasse, which, in collaboration with the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, has been extremely active in recent years, enabling, among other things, a number of outstanding operas to be produced at the Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt. Lotto Sachsen-Anhalt has for several years now presented the traditional performance of Messiah in the church where Handel was baptised, to the great delight of the numerous visitors to the Marktkirche. Hallesche Wohnungsgesellschaft is continuing its involvement this year, with a free event on Domplatz. For their support for the gala concerts, many thanks also to Total Raffinerie Mitteldeutschland, GP Günter Papenburg AG, Stroer Deutsche Städte Medien, Stadtwerke Halle and Kathi Rainer Thiele GmbH.
New: Visitor information
The 2017 Handel Festival Visitors’ Office in Handel House is open daily from May 24 to June 11, from 10am to 6pm.
Visitors to the Handel Festival still have a good chance of getting tickets for numerous events from the Visitors’ Office of Handel House in Halle (Grosse Nikolaistrasse.5, Grosser Innenhof), or at the box office.
If you want to find out more about this year's Handel Festival, we recommend reading the festival magazine, available for the price of €3. This provides full festival information, with interesting features on the performers, background information on performances and much more besides.
Information on ticket sales
The two open-air events – Bridges to Classics on June 10, and the closing concert on June 11, 2017, both at 9pm – will once again be enticing young and old to the Galgenberg Gorge. In Bridges to Classics, Eric Bazilian, the frontman of the legendary US band The Hooters, will be taking centre stage. Some tickets are still available for both events!
Tip 1: Family tickets for the closing concert: one child under 14 accompanied by one adult paying the full ticket price pays only ten euros.
Tip 2: Tickets for Bridges to Classics and the closing concert entitle holders to free transport on MDV vehicles in tariff zone 210 from two hours before the start of the event and for two hours after the end.
Tip 3: Concessionary student tickets are available for some events. For the “Baroque Lounge I: Flow” concert on May 28 in the Vault room of the Moritzburg, “Baroque Lounge II: Borrowings” starring Johannes Malfatti and Nadja Zwiener on June 2, “Rejazz Greatly” on June 5, “Baroque Lounge III: Chacona, Lamento, Walking Blues” with the Sheridan Ensemble on June 8 (all three concerts in St. George’s Church), and “The German Mass” on June 11 in the Steintor, students pay only 15 euros instead of 20.
Tickets for the 2017 Handel Festival are available:
- In advance ticket booking agencies: CTS Eventim advance ticket sales offices all over Germany; in Saxony-Anhalt also from TiM Ticket in Mitteldeutsche Zeitung service centres and Galeria Kaufhof Passage in Halle
- Via our hotline: +49 (0)345 / 565 27 06 (Monday to Friday: 7am-7pm, Saturday: 7am-2pm)
- From the Visitors’ Office in the courtyard of Handel House, Grosse Nikolaistrasse 5
- Opening times: May 24-June 12, every day from 10 – 18pm
- By phoning: 0345 / 500 90 444
- At box offices (open one hour before the start of performances at the respective venues)
Operas and ballet performances/new productions
Jephtha HWV 70 (see Oratorios, fully staged new production)
Giustino HWV 37 (opera, puppet theatre)
Acis and Galatea HWV 49a (masque, puppet theatre, Cannons 1718)
Terpsicore HWV 8b (ballet, fully staged)
Sosarme, Re di Media HWV 30 (opera, fully staged revival)
L’Elpidia, overo li rivali generosi HWV A1 (opera pasticcio, concertante performance)
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo HWV 72 (Serenata a tre, concertante performance, Naples version of 1708)
At the Halle Handel Festival, you can experience the abundance and variety of Baroque music as nowhere else, with the staging of five Baroque masterpieces, including two puppet-theatre productions and ballets.
Many people still remember the enchanting puppet-theatre production of Handel’s Rinaldo a few years ago in the Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt, by Milan-based Carlo Colla e Figli and Lautten Compagney Berlin. The DVD of this Rinaldo production is still a top seller. Now, on June 9, 10 and 11, 2017, there will be the long-waited follow-up, a new production of a Handel opera: Giustino, HWV 37. This opera in Baroque tableaux, with sea battles, fire-spitting dragons and advancing armies and performed by emotionally credible marionettes, is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. Lautten Compagney Berlin have already proved themselves competent Handel interpreters with a variety of opera productions to their credit. They delight audiences with their lively approach to early music, performing on period instruments with imaginative and compelling musical artistry. The Carlo Colla e Figli puppet theatre from Milan has been “pulling strings” for more than 200 years. The historic Goethe Theatre is one of the Handel Festival’s most popular venues. It was built in 1802, its construction being directed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Another puppet production will be taking place in the historic Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt on May 27, 28 and 29, 2017, by the Buchty a Loutky puppet-theatre company from Prague. Accompanied by Collegium Marianum under the direction of flautist Jana Semerádová, they will present Acis and Galatea HWV 49a. The story of the shepherd Acis, the nymph Galatea and the cyclops Polyphemus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses will be lovingly retold with enchanting wooden marionettes. A concertante performance of an earlier version of Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72, can be heard in the Löwengebäude of Halle University. Both performances are based on the latest academic findings of the Halle Handel Edition and are in the original language with German supertitles. Is this version of the Serenata a tre, which was first performed on July 19, 1708, in Naples, and is to be performed under the baton of Peter Neumann and his Collegium Cartusianum, the original version by Handel? It is worth comparing versions, especially when the Serenata is performed by such outstanding soloists as Julia Doyle, Luciana Mancini and Andreas Wolf – it is hard to image a livelier or more thrilling performance. Both performances of Acis und Galatea are generously sponsored by the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung and the Saalesparkasse.