# The English Concert at Zellerbach Hall Auditorium, April 27, 2025

[Cal Performances](https://calperformances.org/events/2024-25/illuminations-fractured-history/the-english-concert-handels-giulio-cesare-in-egitto-harry-bicket-conductor/) Friends Appreciation Concert featuring [The English Concert](https://englishconcert.co.uk/)  
[Zellerbach Hall Auditorium](https://calperformances.org/visit/venues/zh.php)  
[U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94305 USA](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=U.C.+Berkeley,+Bancroft+Way+at+Telegraph+Ave,+Berkeley,+CA+94305+USA&hl=en)  
3:00 PM, Sunday, April 27, 2025

[[2025-04-26|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2025|Up to the 2025 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2025#April_events|Up to the 2025 event list!]] ☸ [[:2025:2025-05:2025-05-03|On to the next event!]]

## Tentative Program

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759): _Giulio Cesare in Egitto_, HWV 17 (1724, an opera seria in three acts; libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym (1678–1729)

## Act One

[3:08 PM] {lights down, announcements, performers out}

Ouverture  
CORO: _Viva, viva il nostro Alcide!_  
CESARE: _Presti omai l'Egizia terra_  
CESARE: _Empio, dirò, tu sei, togliti_  
CORNELIA: _Priva son d'ogni conforto, e pur speme_  
SESTO: _Svegliatevi nel core, furie d'un alma offesa_  
CLEOPATRA: _Non disperar; chi sà? se al regno_  
TOLOMEO: _L'empio, sleale, indegno vorria_  
CESARE: _Alma del gran Pompeo_  
CESARE: _Non è si vago e bello il fior nel prato_  
CLEOPATRA: _Tutto può donna vezzosa, s'amorosa_  
CORNELIA: _Nel tuo seno, amico sasso_  
SESTO: _Cara speme, questo core tu cominci a lusingar_  
CESARE: _Va tacito e nascosto, quand' avido_  
ACHILLA: _Tu sei il cor di questo core_  
SESTO: _Son nato a sospirar, e il dolce_ / CORNELIA: _Son nata a lagrimar, e il dolce_  
[4:30 PM] {set ends}

## Act Two

[4:52 PM] {lights down, performers out}

Sinfonia  
CLEOPATRA: _V'adoro, pupille, saette d'Amore_  
CESARE: _Se in fiorito ameno prato_  
CORNELIA: _Deh, piangete, oh mesti lumi_  
ACHILLA: _Se a me non sei crudele, ogn'or_  
TOLOMEO: _Sì spietata, il tuo rigore sveglia_  
CORNELIA: _Cessa omai di sospirare! non è sempre_  
SESTO: _L'angue offeso mai riposa_  
CLEOPATRA: _Venere bella, per un istante, deh_  
CESARE: _Al lampo dell'armi quest'alma guerriera_  
CLEOPATRA: _Che sento? oh Dio!_  
CLEOPATRA: _Se pietà di me non senti, giusto ciel_  
TOLOMEO: _Belle dee di questo core_  
SESTO: _L'aura che spira tiranno e fiero_  
[5:49 PM] {set ends}

## Act Three

[6:06 PM] {lights down, performers out}

ACHILLA: _Dal fulgor di questa spada_  
Sinfonia  
TOLOMEO: _Domerò la tua fierezza ch'il mio trono_  
CLEOPATRA: _Piangerò la sorte mia, si crudele_  
CESARE: _Dall' ondoso periglio salvo mi_  
CESARE: _Aure, deh, per pietà spirate_  
CESARE: _Quel torrente che cade dal monte_  
SESTO: _La giustizia ha già sull'arco_  
CLEOPATRA: _Voi, che mie fide ancelle_  
CLEOPATRA: _Da tempeste il legno infranto_  
CORNELIA: _Non ha più che temere quest' alma_  
Sinfonia  
CLEOPATRA: _Caro! più amabile beltà mai non_ / CESARE: _Bella! più amabile beltà mai non_  
CORO: _Ritorni omai nel nostro core la bella gioja ed il piacer_  
[7:02 PM] {set ends; applause and curtain calls}
[7:05 PM] {show ends}


## Performers

### Cast

* Christophe Dumaux: countertenor vox as _Giulio Cesare_;
* [Louise Alder](https://www.louisealder.co.uk/): soprano vox as _Cleopatra_, co-ruler of Egypt with her brother _Tolomeo_;
* [Paula Murrihy](http://www.paulamurrihy.com/): mezzo-soprano vox en travesti as _Sesto_, stepson of _Cornelia_;
* [Beth Taylor](https://www.bethmtaylor.com/): contralto vox as _Cornelia_, wife of _Pompeo_;
* [John Holiday](https://www.johnholiday.com/): countertenor vox as _Tolomeo_ aka _Ptolemy_, brother of _Cleopatra_ and co-ruler of Egypt;
* [Morgan Pearse](https://www.morganpearse.co.uk/): baritone vox as _Achilla_, an Egyptian general;
* [Meili Li](https://www.instagram.com/meilimusica/): countertenor vox as _Nireno_, Cleopatra's and Tolomeo's servant;
* [Thomas Chenhall](https://www.thomaschenhall.com/): baritone vox as _Curio_, a praetor and a general, serving as Caesar's assistant and confidant;

### Musicians

[The English Concert](https://englishconcert.co.uk/)

* Harry Bicket: artistic director, harpsichord;

* Nadja Zwiener: leader, violin 1;
* Annie Gard: violin 1;
* Kinga Ujszåszi: violin 1;
* Anna Curzon: violin 1;
* Jeffrey Girton: violin 1;
* Jimmy Drancsak: violin 1;
* Tuomo Suni: violin 2;
* Elizabeth MacCarthy: violin 2;
* Jacek Kurzydlo: violin 2;
* Davina Clarke: violin 2;
* Mark Seow: violin 2;
* Alfonso Leal del Ojo: viola;
* Louise Hogan: viola;
* Joanna Patrick: viola;
* Joseph Crouch: violoncello;
* Jonathan Byers: violoncello;
* Samuel Ng: violoncello, viola da Gamba;
* Alexander Jones: contrabass;
* Katy Bircher: flute, recorder;
* Clara Espinosa Encinas: oboe;
* Jon Olaberria Lopez-Quintana: oboe;
* Katrin Lazar: bassoon, recorder;
* Ursula Paludan Monberg: horn;
* Joseph Walters: horn;
* Sergio Bucheli: theorbo;
* Pablo FitzGerald Cerdån: theorbo;
* Oliver Wass: harp;
* Tom Foster: harpsichord.

### Production Credits

* Lily Arbisser Shorr: supertitles.

## Notes

Today's show was one of those where I was both excited (yay! baroque opera!) and uncertain (four hours?!?). Turns out that I'm glad I made time for it: some of the singing was absolutely exquisite. And props to the audience: every now and then I was distracted by a cough or a beeping watch or other sort of noise, but for the most part, the hall was pin-drop quiet. Opera fans must know!

[Program Notes](https://calperformances.org/program-notes/2024-25/the-english-concert-2425/) or {{:2025:2025-04:20250427pn.pdf|program notes}}

Although it's darn hard to use it while sitting in the dark, I found it mildly irritating that the libretto was omitted from both the printed program and the pdf -- without such info we were all lost without a map throughout each set -- hence the lack of detailed time-stamps above.

{{tag>music The_English_Concert Zellerbach_Hall_Auditorium Harry_Bicket Christophe_Dumaux Louise_Alder Paula_Murrihy Beth_Taylor John_Holiday Morgan_Pearse Meili_Li Thomas_Chenhall}}

[[2025-04-26|Back to the previous event!]] ☸ [[:#section2025|Up to the 2025 yearbox!]] ☸ [[:2025#April_events|Up to the 2025 event list!]] ☸ [[:2025:2025-05:2025-05-03|On to the next event!]]