Orest

Flight, xenophobia, and dictatorship are the central themes of Handel's opera, which premiered in 1734. It tells the story of Orestes, borrowed from Greek mythology. Orestes murdered his mother Clytemnestra to take revenge on his father Agamemnon. The matricide flees, driven mad, to Tauris. There he encounters his sister Iphigenia, whom he believed to be dead. She is forced by the tyrant Thoas to kill all strangers. The siblings only recognize each other late in the opera, but together with their companions they manage to break Thoas' tyranny and escape.

For the opera, Handel compiled a pasticcio of the most beautiful arias from nine of his operas written between 1720 and 1732 into a musical delight. The fast-paced and dense opera highlights the composer's artistry, in which he allows his characters to experiment with musical means of expression with sensitivity and intuition. Composer and sound designer Albrecht Ziepert, together with director Mirella Weingarten, will rewrite Handel's pastiche, revealing the contemporary themes of the piece. The relevance of the subject matter and form allows Handel's remarkable modernity to be experienced anew.