A highlight of the Handel commemorative year (250th anniversary of death)
was the Salzburg Festival's first-ever staging of Handel's oratorio
"Theodora" of 1750. Christof Loy, who was voted "director of the year"
three times by the prestigious journal "Opernwelt", created a production
that is, in his words, "almost as an installation", and groups his
characters around the remains of a gigantic organ in situations that echo
the libretto's tragic dilemma of love, faith and virtue. His concept is
supported by the vigorous Ivor Bolton and the Freiburger Barockorchester
playing on original instruments, the Salzburger Bachchor, and, above all,
by a fine cast. It is led by the luminous Christine Schäfer as a Theodora
who "perfectly encapsulates the heroine's combination of fragility and
defiance" (AFP), and countertenor Bejun Mehta, who "excels as Theodora's
lover Didymus" (The New York Times). Video director Hannes Rossacher,
known both in the pop (Rolling Stones) and classical worlds (Mozart's
"Lucio Silla" for UNITEL), captures the essence of this rarely recorded
work, another joint project of the exclusive audiovisual partners Salzburg
Festival and UNITEL CLASSICA.
