Belshazzar

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Georg Friedrich Haendel

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Oratorio in three acts

Libretto by Charles Jennens

First performed on 27th March 1745 at Kings Theatre London

Conductor René Jacobs
Stage director Christof Nel
Stage Design Roland Aeschlimann
Costumes Bettina Walter
Lighting Olaf Freese

Belshazzar Kenneth Tarver
Nitocris Rosemary Joshua
Cyrus Bejun Mehta
Daniel Kristina Hammarström
Gobrias Neal Davies
Choir RIAS Kammerchor
Choirmaster Tim Brown
Orchestra Akademie für alte Musik Berlin

Production/coproduction

New production by the Festival d'Aix en Provence

Coproduction with Staatsoper unter den Linden Berlin and Innsbruck Festwochen der AltenMusik

“How the power of humans is superficial and fleeting!” Nitocris, Act I, scene 1

After the destruction of Jerusalem and the imprisonment of the Israelites, the prophet Daniel predicts the decline of Nabuchodonosor’s empire. Indeed, his successor thinks only of pleasure. While Cyrus the Great’s Persian armies gather at the walls of Babylon, Belshazzar is feasting using the sacred vessels of the Jews.

On the palace wall the divine maxim, “Mané, Thécel, Pharès” appears which only the captured prophet is able to translate as “weighed in the balance and found wanting”. One of the aims of occidental theatre is to question history and Handel succeeds in this with this oratorio.

Sung in English with French subtitles