Olavinlinna Castle 29 July 2021 - Julius Caesar | GoComGo.com

Julius Caesar

Olavinlinna Castle, Savonlinna, Finland
All photos (5)
Select date and time
Thursday 29 July 2021
7 PM
Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Savonlinna, Finland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 2
Duration:
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: Finnish,English

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Festival

Savonlinna Opera Festival 2021

Following the Finnish government’s ruling regarding events in summer 2020, this year’s Savonlinna Opera Festival has been postponed until 2021 to help control the coronavirus epidemic. The programme scheduled for 2020 will be performed in Olavinlinna next year instead. Any tickets already bought or reserved will automatically be valid for summer 2021 performances.

Overview

 

 

 

Baroque operas were born at a time when the Age of Enlightenment was budding and the great philosophers pondered the mysteries of existence. Masters from Rubens to Rembrandt and Shakespeare had revolutionised aesthetic thinking, while it was fashionable for composers to focus on affections, the expressions of specific emotions. Opera was an ideal art form for the ostentatious and dramatic Baroque era.

The love story of Julius Caesar and queen Cleopatra ranks as one of Handel’s best operas. Power, attraction and love are entangled in a work of art that is brought to life by enchanting music and realistic characters. This production by Croatian National Theatre flies higher than most – quite literally so! Giulio Cesare features awe-inspiring acrobatics as well as opera.

Giulio Cesare is making history at the Opera Festival. It’s the first ever baroque opera by Handel in the festival repertoire.

History
Premiere of this production: 20 February 1724, Theatre Royal, London

"Julius Caesar in Egypt "(ital. Giulio Cesare in Egitto; HWV 17) is an Opera by Georg Friedrich Handel in Italian in three acts. Libretto by Nicola Francesco Jaime on the drama of J. F. Bussani.

Synopsis

Time: 48 BC
Location: Egypt
Act I
Julius Caesar enters Egypt in triumph in pursuit of Pompey, who has fled there, seeking refuge with Ptolemy, the king of the Egyptians. Cornelia, wife of Pompey, Caesar asks to spare the wife. Magnanimous Caesar agrees. But the treacherous Ptolemy, wishing to please the Roman General, kills Pompey. Cornelia and her son Sextus vow to avenge the death of her husband and father. Meanwhile, Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra, dreaming of the Egyptian throne, tries to win the heart of Caesar, taking advantage of his anger over his brother's act. He promises her his help. Cleopatra easily inclines to their side of Cornelia and Sextus, promising help in the murder of Ptolemy. The attempt fails, and Ptolemy puts Cornelia in chains. She would be a slave from now on. The Egyptian warlord akilla offers her freedom in return for love, but she rejects him.

Act II
Caesar is in danger. During the meeting with Cleopatra warn him that the soldiers of Akilli run here with the intention to kill him; he was forced to hide. Ptolemy solicits love Cornelia. Wanting to protect his mother, Sextus wants to kill Ptolemy, but Achilles saves the king and informs him of the death of Caesar, who tried to escape. As a reward he demands Cornelia, but Ptolemy, in his time, promising him Cornelius, refuses the General. Achille furious and decides to change the king, turning to the rebels Cleopatra.

Act III
Ptolemy wins the battle. Achille mortally wounded. Before his death, he gives Sextus a ring-a sign of power over the army. The news of Caesar's death turns out to be false, and Sextus gives him the ring. Caesar with an army breaks into the Palace of Ptolemy and releases captured Cleopatra. Hated Sextus kills Ptolemy. Caesar transfers power in Egypt to Cleopatra, who recognizes the supremacy of Rome over Egypt. From now on, the feuds are over. The people rejoice.

Venue Info

Olavinlinna Castle - Savonlinna
Location   Olavinkatu 27

During it’s history the Olavinlinna Castle has been the state border fortress for both Swedes and Russians. The construction work for Saint Olaf’s Castle started in 1475, when a Danish born knight Erik Akselinpoika Tott decided to build a great fortress to protect the strategically important Savo region. The castle was to ward off Russian’s attacks coming from the east and thus ensure that the Savo region will stay under the Swedish Crown. Olavinlinna Castle’s history is a mixture of swords clashing in the middle ages, cannons rumbleing and every day chores inside the castle’s walls.

In 1975 after great renovation works the Olavinlinna Castle re-opened it’s renovated spaces and nowadays Olavinlinna Castle is open for public all year around. The castle’s museom showcases materials that were either found from the castle or are somehow related to it’s history. The orthodox museum has icons and other religous articles both from Finland and Russia. Public events and guided tours to the castle are held in many languages, in summer and in winter. Castle’s multiple spaces are rentable and host many different kinds of events and celebrations. Olavinlinna Castle with it’s over 100 000 visitors a year is the main tourist attraction in Savonlinna.

The first Opera Festival was held in summer 1912. Attending a political meeting in Olavinlinna Castle in 1907, the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté, already famous at opera houses the world over and an ardent patriot, immediately spotted the potential of the medieval castle built in 1475 as the venue for an opera festival. The romantic castle set amid lake scenery of ‘supernatural beauty’ could not, in her opinion, fail to impress all who beheld it and was thus the perfect stage for the Finnish music just bursting into flower. Nowadays the auditorium is covered and has 2264 seats.

Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Savonlinna, Finland
Starts at: 19:00
Acts: 3
Intervals: 2
Duration:
Sung in: Italian
Titles in: Finnish,English
Top of page