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German composer Georg Friedrich Handel imported Italian opera to London, where he settled to make a career. It was here that he premiered Orlando at the King’s Theatre in 1733 with Farinelli’s great castrato rival Senesino.
A must in the Baroque world, this inventive and beautiful music pulsates with torment and passion. The plot of this highly original opera seria is inspired by Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando furioso. Of the five characters, four are in love, but not all the feelings are reciprocated: the noble knight Orlando is quite literally “madly in love” with Queen Angelica, who is in love with Prince Medoro, who loves her in return, while the shepherdess Dorinda adores him… From graceful or feverish recitative to sparkling arioso, from bravura aria to moving lament, vocal virtuosity blends with the text and the emotions, culminating in the great scene of madness involving the hero – or should we say anti-hero? While the lovers suffer the jealous wrath of the “furious” Orlando, crises are resolved under the guidance of the magician-philosopher Zoroastro, leading to a happy ending.
Mariame Clément made her debut as an opera director in Lausanne in 2004. Since then, her career has taken off all over the world and she now returns to present her vision of Orlando. The Lausanne Chamber Orchestra will be conducted for the first time by Christopher Moulds, a leading specialist in Handel’s music.
First performance January 27, 1733 at the King’s Theatre, London
Brian Clark and Clifford Bartlett Editions
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne
Lausanne-based soprano Marie Lys trained at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne and then at the Royal College of Music in London. First prize winner at the Cesti Baroque Opera Competition (2018) and the Vincenzo Bellini Belcanto Competition (2017), she has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Diego Fasolis, Christophe Rousset, Fabio Biondi, Leonardo García Alarcón, Emmanuelle Haïm and Michel Corboz. She has also performed with orchestras such as Europa Galante, Les Talens Lyriques, Sinfonia Varsovia, The English Concert, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Cameristi della Scala and Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco. She has sung the roles of Ginevra (Ariodante) and Adelaide (Lotario) at the Handel Festival in Göttingen, Dorinda (Orlando) at the Castell Festival in Peralada, Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Yniold (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Clorinda (La Cenerentola) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, and recently replaced Cecilia Bartoli at the last minute in the title role of Handel’s Alcina at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. She has played the role of Bellezza in Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno alongside Biondi in Granada, and the title role in Donizetti’s Betly for the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw. She will soon appear in Vivaldi’s Tamerlano during an Italian tour conducted by Ottavio Dantone, as well as in Lully’s Thésée at the Theater an der Wien, at the Bozar in Brussels and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées under the baton of Christophe Rousset. Marie was supported in her debut by the Migros Culture Percentage and the Leenaards, Dénéréaz, Colette Mosetti and Friedl Wald, Samling, Drake Calleja Trust and Josephine Baker Trust foundations.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Orlando paladino (2017), La sonnambula (2018), Die Fledermaus (2018), Orpheus and Eurydice (2019), Alcina (2022) and Candide (2022).