In the second performance by Il pomo d’oro, the orchestra in residence in the Gulbenkian Music season, this ensemble tailor-made for the opera repertoire accompanies the Argentine counter-tenor Franco Fagioli in the performance of arias from the operas of G. F. Händel. The marvellous chemistry between the orchestra and the singer has been recorded in the highly praised recording Arias for Caffarelli. Tim Ashley, in The Guardian, called Fagioli “one of today’s great vocal technicians”, highlighting “the ease and almost superhuman agility with which he attacks some of the big bravura numbers”.

Franco Fagioli Countertenor
Il pomo d’oro

Georg Friedrich Händel
Allegro from Symphony in B-flat major, HWV 338
Giulio Cesare: “Presti omai l’egitzia terra”
Imeneo: “Se potessero i sospir’ miei”
Giulio Cesare: “Se in fiorito ameno prato”

Trio Sonata in G major, op. 5 n.º 4 (HWV 399)
Rinaldo: “Cara sposa”
Rinaldo: “Venti, turbini”
Alcina: “Mi lusinga il dolce affetto”
Serse: “Se bramate d’amar”

Rodrigo: Passacaglia
Ariodante: “Scherza infida”
Serse: Symphony from Act III
Serse: “Crude furie”