Handel composed his oratorio La Resurrezione in 1707 with a libretto that provided a dramatic canvas for his new work: lamentation on Christ’s death contrasted with violent exchanges between the Angel and Lucifer. It inspired the young Handel to compose music of lavish richness and expressive drama. In this historically-informed performance, conductor Attilio Cremonesi has done extensive research into the work’s 1708 premiere in Rome.

This performance marked the Händelfestspielorchester Halle’s 30th anniversary. In recent years it has performed at Musikfest Stuttgart, Leipzig Bach Festival, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Semperoper Dresden, at the Handel festivals in Göttingen and Halle where it is involved in the annual staging of a Handel opera, and across Europe and in South Korea.

Attilio Cremonesi is artistic director of the Händelfestspielorchester Halle as well as conductor in residence at Staatstheater Karlsruhe. He is a specialist in Baroque and Classical works. Of his performance of Handel’s Guilio Cesare, Kleine Zeitung wrote that ‘Under the agile, Italian maestro Attilio Cremonesi, there is lively action with enormous drive, ideal terraced dynamics, then again melancholy veiled in wide tonal colours and high emotional intensity is generated.’

Acclaimed conductor, Attilio Cremonesi, studied piano, organ, harpsichord and conducting in Piacenza and Basel, and is today one of the most renowned specialists of rarely performed Classical and Baroque compositions. His numerous award-winning recordings are a testament to his remarkable success. As a much sought-after interpreter of Mozart, Handel and Monteverdi, as well as Rameau, Vivaldi, Purcell, Sartori, Hasse, Haydn and Rossini, Cremonesi is a welcome guest at renowned festivals and opera houses worldwide, such as the Innsbrucker Festwochen, Wiener Festwochen, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Händel-Festspiele Halle, Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater an der Wien, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Teatro Municipal de Santiago and the Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse.

Cast:
- Angel: Carine Tinney (soprano)
- Mary Magdalene: Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (soprano)
- Mary of Clopas: Rafał Tomkiewicz (countertenor)
- St John the Evngelist: Youn-Seong Shim (tenor)
- Lucifer: David Oštrek (bass-baritone)