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IV. Where to go for Handel

In Czechia

Městská divadla Pražská [Prague City Theatres]

Farinelli and the King

A play about the power of art and the fragile line between reason and madness reminds us that when the muses speak, weapons are silent.
A drama performance featuring Handel's music.

Claire van Kampen: Farinelli and the King (in Czech)

© Městská divadla Pražská

Music can sometimes do what no medicine can do – calm the chaos in the head and bring peace. This is exactly what happens at the court of King Philip V of Spain, who closes himself off from the world, sinks into dark states, and refuses to hear what is really happening in the country. The desperate Queen Elizabeth brings Farinelli to the court – a singer with a range so unprecedented and a voice so captivating that he awakens in the king something that doctors have failed to do – the desire to live.

Wednesday 5. 11. 2025 7:00 p.m.,
Thursday 20. 11. 2025 7:00 p.m.,
Tuesday 2. 12. 2025 7:00 p.m.,
Wednesday 10. 12. 2025 7:00 p.m.
Rokoko Theatre, Wenceslas Square 38, 110 00 Prague 1.

Information on the website of the Prague City Theatres (In Czech; you can buy a ticket here).

National Theatre of Brno Season

Handel's Alcina

© National Theatre Brno

Last four performances. Magdalena Kožená in title role.

George Frideric Handel: Alcina, HWV 34 (opera seria)

Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano – Alcina)
Jiří Heřman (director)
Collegium 1704
Václav Luks (conductor)

Monday 17th November 2025 from 5:00 p.m.,
Wednesday 19th November 2025 from 6:00 p.m.,
Sunday 30th November 2025 from 5:00 p.m.,
Tuesday 2th December 2025 from 6:00 p.m. (closing night)
Janáček Theatre, Brno

Information on the website of the National Theatre Brno (here you can find a detailed cast and purchase a ticket).

Handel's Agrippina

Nero and Agrippina, 54 AD. Museum in Aphrodisias.
(By Carlos Delgado, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia)

Premiére 11. 4. 2026. Tickets are selling out fast…

George Frideric Handel: Agrippina, HWV 6 (opera seria)

Pavla Vykopalová (soprano – Agrippina)
Martin Glaser (director)
Collegium 1704
Václav Luks (conductor)

Saturday 11th April 2026 from 6:00 p.m. (premiere),
Saturday 18th April 2026 from 6:00 p.m.,
Sunday 19th April 2026 from 5:00 p.m.,
Sunday 10th May 2026 from 6:00 p.m.,
Saturday 30th May 2026 from 6:00 p.m.,
Sunday 31st May 2026 from 6:00 p.m.
Janáček Theatre, Brno

Information on the website of the National Theatre Brno (here you can find a detailed cast and buy a ticket).

Just beyond the Czech borders

NOSPR, Katowice (PL)

Covenant & Glory

NOSPR Katovice, the concert hall. Photo: Radek Grzybowski, CC0 1.0 PDD, Wikimedia.

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679‒1745): Missa Circumcisionis, ZWV 11
George Frideric Handel (1685‒1759): Dixit Dominus, HWV 232

Collegium 1704
Collegium Vocale 1704
Václav Luks (conductor)
Tereza Zimková (soprano)
Pavla Radostová (soprano)
Gabriel Díaz (counter tenor)
Ondřej Holub (tenor)
Tomáš Šelc (bass)
Tadeáš Hoza (bass)

Friday November 7th 2025 od 7:30 p.m.
NOSPR (Narodowa Orkiestra Symfoniczna Polskiego Radia), Wojciech Kilar Square 1, 40-202 Katowice

In Jewish tradition, circumcision was to be performed on the eighth day after a child’s birth, at which point the child was also given a name. From this derives the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, celebrated on 1st January, which in Christian practice became known as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. It is an exceptionally solemn occasion, marking the child’s initiation into the religious community and the renewal of the covenant between God and Abraham. This rich symbolism is perfectly embodied in Missa Circumcisionis (Mass for the Feast of the Circumcision of the Lord) by Jan Dismas Zelenka. Born in a tiny town to the south-east of Prague, the composer achieved his greatest success in the musical circles of Dresden. It was there that Missa Circumcisionis was composed as part of the liturgical celebrations of the New Year at the royal chapel. The work is distinguished by its exalted and jubilant character – Zelenka’s characteristic mastery of counterpoint – and the richness of its orchestration.

The programme of the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704, conducted by Václav Luks, is complemented by George Frideric Handel’s sacred cantata Dixit Dominus (The Lord said unto my Lord, where the ‘Lord’ refers to God and ‘my Lord’ refers to Jesus Christ). The work was composed during the young composer’s stay in Rome in his early twenties. Handel had departed for Italy rather unexpectedly, after his first operas written for the theatre in Hamburg had met with mixed responses. Due to the ban on operatic composition in the papal city, he turned to religious music, producing several significant works in which his dramatic streak is unmistakably present. One of them is the cantata Dixit Dominus, written for choir, soloists, and instrumental ensemble. It constitutes an impressive laboratory of musical ideas, some of which were to find full expression only a few years later in masterpieces such as Rinaldo and Agrippina.

(Author of the text: Szymon Maliszewski)

Information on the Webpage of NOSPR Katowice (you can buy a ticket here).

Theatre ‘An der Wien’, Vienna

Handel's Porus (Poro)

Metastasio: Alessandro nell'Indie, Herissant vol. 4, Paris 1780. Libretto of Handel's Poro.
Source: Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (1698‒1782) – Domain Public, Wikimedia.

Max Emanuel Cenčić in the title role.

George Frideric Handel: Poro, Re dell’Indie, HWV 28 (opera seria; concert performance)

Max Emanuel Cenčić (countertenor)
{oh!} Orchestra (Katowice)
Martyna Pastuszka (artistic director, conductor)

Tuesday 25th November 2025 7:00 p.m.
Theater an der Wien, Linke Wienzeile 6, Vienna.

Information on the website of the theatre ‘An der Wien’ (here you can find a detailed cast and you can buy ticket).

Handel's Julius Caesar (Giulio Cesare in Egitto)

Julius Caesar. Title page of the first edition. Author: Cluer – scan, Bonhams, Public Domain, Wikimedia.

Jakub Józef Orliński in the title role.

George Frideric Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17 (opera seria; concert performance)

Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor)
Il Pomo d’Oro (orchestra)
Francesco Corti (conductor)

Wednesday 4th February 2026 7:00 p.m.
Theater an der Wien, Linke Wienzeile 6, Vienna.

Information on the website of the theatre ‘An der Wien’ (here you can find a detailed cast and you can buy ticket).

Medea

Carl Kundmann (1838‒1919): Monument to the playwright Franz Grillparzer (1889). Volksgarten, Vienna. Detail: Medea (relief). Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia

A mother who kills her own children out of revenge.
Musical theatre project with words by Euripides, Franz Grillparzer and others, and music by George Frideric Handel, Marc-Antoine Charpentier and others.
In Italian, French and German with German and English subtitles.

Lisa-Katrina Mayer (Medea)
Johannes Bamberger (Jason)
Corinna von Rad (director)
Bach Consort Wien
Benjamin Bayl (conductor)

Sunday 1st March 2026 11:00am (introductory matinee),
Tuesday 17th March 2026 7:00 p.m. (premiére),
Thursday 19th March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Saturday 21st March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Monday 23rd March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Thursday 26th March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Saturday 28th March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Monday 30th March 2026 7:00 p.m.,
Wednesday 1st April 2026 7:00 p.m.
Kammeroper (Chamber Opera), Fleischmarkt 24, 1010 Wien

Information on the website of the theatre ‘An der Wien’ (here you can find a detailed cast and you can buy ticket).

Handel's Ariodante

Interior of the Royal Theatre, Covent Garden, where the premiere of Ariodante took place.
By Thomas Rowlandson (1756‒1827) and Augustus Charles Pugin (1762‒1832) (after) John Bluck (fl. 1791‒1819), Joseph Constantine Stadler (fl. 1780‒1812), Thomas Sutherland (1785‒1838), J. Hill, and Harraden (aquatint engravers) – This engraving was published as Plate 27 of Microcosm of London (1808). Public Domain, Wikimedia.

Magdalena Kožená in the title role.

George Frideric Handel: Ariodante, HWV 33 (opera seria; concert performance)

Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano)
La Cetra (orchestra)
Andrea Marcon (conductor)

Wednesday 20th May 2026 7:00 p.m.
Theater an der Wien, Linke Wienzeile 6, Vienna.

Information on the website of the Theater an der Wien (here you can find a detailed cast and buy a ticket).

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