When one of Germany's most famous filmmakers and stimulating operatic
directors focuses her creativity on a rarely performed Handel opera, the
result is a "mixture of dancers and singers, comedy and pathos"
(The Times). "Admeto", one of Handel's most popular operas in his
lifetime, was premiered in London in January 1727. Doris Dörrie, whose
Japan-inspired feature film "Cherry Blossoms - Hanami" was a major German
box-office hit and won several international awards, returns to her
beloved Japan in this production. Flowing robes, translucent panels and
the participation of Japan's Mamu Dance Theater and its
choreographer/dancer Tadashi Endo add an evocative dimension to the work
whose lead roles were written for a popular castrato and two rivaling
primadonnas. Sensitively directed for video by Agnes Méth, who worked
with Dörrie on Mozart's "La finta giardiniera" at the Salzburg Festival
(available as part of the M22 cycle by UNITEL), the opera is played by
Nicholas McGegan's FestspielOrchester Göttingen on period instruments.
For this production, a coproduction of the Internationale Händel-
Festspiele in Göttingen and the Edinburgh International Festival on the
occasion of the 250th anniversary of Handel's death, Doris Dörrie was
awarded the Edinburgh Festival's prestigious Herald Angel Award.
