Tamerlano

Plácido Domingo (Bajazet), Monica Bacelli (Tamerlano), Ingela Bohlin (Asteria), Sara Mingardo (Andronico), Jennifer Holloway (Irene) & Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Real, Paul McCreesh (conductor) & Graham Vick (stage director)

Teatro Real's majestic production of Handel's vivid tragedy, Tamerlano, stars a Lear-like Plácido Domingo as the Turkish Sultan Bajazet, caught between pride, love and loyalty. Displaying the uniquely heroic quality of his voice, Domingo heads a superb cast, including Sara Mingardo, Monica Bacelli and Ingela Bohlin, all magnificently responsive to Paul McCreesh's authentic and luminous interpretation of the score. The stunning theatrical staging by Graham Vick provides a splendid setting for the characters and for designer Richard Hudson's extravagant Baroque-Islamic costumes, emphasising the brilliance of one of Handel's finest dramatic achievements.

‘Here Domingo, with his superb diction, his great declamatory power and eloquent phrasing…brings a towering presence and bags of vocal charisma to Bajazet. …This is surely one of Vick’s finest achievements in the opera house.’ The Sunday Times

PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9 / SOUND: 5.0 DTS SURROUND / PCM STEREO / SUBTITLES: EN/FR/DE/ES/IT

Handel:
 Tamerlano HWV 18

"The grandly tragic figure of the enslaved Turkish sultan Bajazet… is a recent departure for Plácido Domingo, and one that could be supposed to lie outside his comfort zone. So it says much for his artistry and intelligence that he makes such a significant success of it in this filming of Graham Vick's 2008 Madrid production. ...the opera is one of Handel's greatest, reaching a powerful climax in Bajazet's suicide scene. Here Domingo, even with his now diminished vocal resources, puts some of his Baroque specialist colleagues to shame with the psychological penetration of his performance. In Richard Hudson's generally handsome and relatively spare semi-abstract designs the show looks good... Paul McCreesh gets decent playing from the non-period Madrid musicians..."
BBC Music Magazine - May 2009 ****

‘Here Domingo, with his superb diction, his great declamatory power and eloquent phrasing…brings a towering presence and bags of vocal charisma to Bajazet. …This is surely one of Vick’s finest achievements in the opera house.’
The Sunday Times