The English Concert/Bicket: Giulio Cesare

Sparks fly as ever-savvy Cleopatra and the Roman Emperor encircle each other. There’s all to play for on both sides. Gilded with some of Handel’s most beguiling imaginings, music that smoulders, thrills, and breaks hearts, Giulio Cesare is the latest instalment in the English Concert’s eagerly anticipated annual tour delivering operatic Handel with care across Europe and the US.

Handel and The English Concert are an item. In 2023 Harry Bicket’s ensemble launched an ambitious project to film the composer’s complete works. He’s a conductor with a light touch. Of his Mozart, The New York Times detected ‘textures as airy as a June morning on Coney Island’, while Louise Alder’s 2024 Glyndebourne portrayal of Cleopatra tapped ‘a concentrated tragic eloquence that held the whole theatre in breathless silence’ (The Spectator).