Admeto (2009)

George Frideric Handel's Admeto is considered one of the most successful operas to have been produced in the first half of the 18th century. Along with Radamisto, Giulio Cesare, Tamerlano, Rodelinda, and Alessandro, also written in this period, Admeto belongs to Handel's so-called "London operas"--works he composed for the Royal Academy of Music. Though born in Halle, Germany, Handel spent most of his adult life in London, becoming a British subject in 1727. Axel Köhler, the celebrated countertenor currently active in Munich, Halle, and Berlin--now also well known for his work as a director--has brought Admeto into the modern era in timeless style by the skillful application of imaginative theatrical digressions. Köhler's 2006 festival production at the Halle Opernhaus revisits a work that encompasses comedy, tragedy, and almost absurd grotesqueness, giving it a convincing metaphor in the form of a modern hospital.