Giulio Cesare in Egitto premiered at the King's Theatre in London on 20 February 1724. At the time, Händel was the most respected composer on English soil as well as director of the Royal Academy of Music, which had been successfully promoting Italian opera in London since 1719. Julius Caesar, a musical drama in three acts to a libretto by Nicholas Francis Haym, was met with great triumph followed by thirteen performances with the theatre completely sold out. The opera is based on the historical episode of Caesar's campaign in Egypt in pursuit of his enemy Pompey after the Battle of Pharsalus. In Egypt, Caesar will meet the cunning and deceitful King Ptolemy and the perturbing Cleopatra, who will try to seduce him to her own advantage, only to fall in love with him for real. The opera was a perfect sampler of Baroque marvels: a first-rate vocal cast, which included the famous castrato Senesino in the title role and the soprano Francesca Cuzzoni in that of Cleopatra, a sumptuous and spectacular staging, and refined and beautifully crafted music. In the continuous scansion of recitatives and arias, typical of 18th-century opera, Giulio Cesare contains some of the composer's most popular pages such as the accompanied recitative “Alma del gran Pompeo”, sung by the protagonist before the urn of his murdered enemy Pompey.

Staging by Opéra di Monte-Carlo
More characters TBD (updated: June 30, 2025)

Poster © Gianluigi Toccafondo

Meeting with the audience - Parlando di opera

Wednesday, June 10th, 2026, 4.30 pm
"L’antico in scena: Giulio Cesare di Händel"
by Martino Ruggiero Dondi

In collaboration with Il Foyer - Amici della Lirica di Firenze
Free admission until all available seats are taken