“Each time I have the opportunity to tackle Handel opera, I am unfailingly confirmed in what is by now a deeply rooted conviction: the musical inspiration of the caro Sassone plainly shows a subtle and at the same time profound knowledge of human psychology. With Handel, the partnership of voice and instruments goes beyond the elementary statement of events, feelings and affetti, to penetrate, in the most unexpected fashion, the secret realm of the characters’ innermost urges. Then we become aware of the presence of a ‘subtext’, a signifier hidden beneath the courtly verses of the official libretto, capable of precipitating the character into a contradictory, nebulous, not to say ‘neurotic’ reality. To the singer-actor who is conscious of this, the vocal music of Handel can offer a splendid and fascinating opportunity to probe the secret labyrinths of the inner self, sublimating the conventions and artifices of a style only apparently dedicated to spectacular virtuosity and pure hedonistic pleasure.”

Lorenzo Regazzo