David Daniels and Natalie Dessay Will Lead The Met's GUILIO CAEARE

David Daniels and Natalie Dessay will sing the leading roles of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra inDavid McVicar's production of Handel's Giulio Cesare, which premieres at the Met April 4. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket will lead ten performances of the popular staging, originally produced at the Glyndebourne Festival, which incorporates many innovative elements into the story of Caesar and Cleopatra's unlikely romance-including extensive choreography by Andrew George. The other principal stars of this production include Alice Coote in the trouser role of the Roman youth Sesto, Italian baritone Guido Loconsolo in his Met debut as the scheming Egyptian general Achilla, John Moore as the Roman general Curio, and three stars of McVicar's original Glyndebourne Festival production: Patricia Bardon as the Roman widow Cornelia, Sesto's stepmother; Christophe Dumaux as Tolomeo, Cleopatra's brother and co-ruler; and Moroccan countertenor Rachid Ben Abdeslam in his Met debut as the Egyptian servant Nireno. The production features set design by Robert Jones, costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, and lighting design by Paule Constable. The Saturday, April 27 matinee performance of Giulio Cesare will be transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series, which is now seen in more than 1,900 movie theaters in 64 countries around the world.

McVicar's production premiered at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2005 to tremendous critical acclaim. It has been revived at Glyndebourne three times and had its American premiere at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2007, in a production that also starred Daniels, Bardon, and Dumaux. Earlier this season, McVicar staged the Met premiere of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. His previous Met productions include Verdi's Il Trovatore in 2009 and the Met premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena in 2011. This June, he will stage a new production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde for the Vienna State Opera.

Harry Bicket led an acclaimed revival of the Met's previous production of Giulio Cesare in 2007, starring Daniels, Coote, and Bardon. He made his Met debut in 2004, conducting the Met premiere of Handel's Rodelinda. In recent seasons, he conducted revivals ofRodelinda and Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, both of which were transmitted worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series. Later this season, he will conduct new productions of Mozart's Lucio Silla at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu and Handel's Hercules at the Canadian Opera Company.

David Daniels made his Met debut as Sesto in Giulio Cesare in 1999 and made his company role debut as the title character in 2007. His other Met roles have included Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Bertarido in the Met premiere of Rodelinda,Orfeo in the 2007 new production premiere of Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, and Prospero in the world premiere of the Baroque pastiche The Enchanted Island. He has sung Cesare with the Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Detroit Opera. Next season at the Met, he sings Prospero in the first revival of The Enchanted Island.

Natalie Dessay sings her first Met performances of Cleopatra, a role she debuted at the Paris Opera in 2011. Her numerous acclaimed performances at the Met have included Fiakermilli in Strauss's Arabella, the role of her debut; Zerbinetta in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos; Olympia in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann; Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata; and four new production premieres: Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette (2005), the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor (2007), Marie in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment(2008), and Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula (2009). This summer, she will sing Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with San Francisco Opera.

Alice Coote made an acclaimed company role debut as Sesto at the Met in 2007, the same season she sang the role at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with a Baroque orchestra under the direction of Christophe Rousset. She made her Met debut in 2006 as Cherubino in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2007, she sang Hansel in the new production premiere of Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel,a role she reprised at the Met last season. This October, she returns to the Met to sing the central role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson in the U.S. premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys.

Patricia Bardon made her Met debut as Cornelia in 2007, the role she sang in the 2005 premiere of McVicar's production at Glyndebourne and repeated there and at Lyric Opera of Chicago in subsequent seasons. Last season at the Met, she sang Erda in the new production premiere of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. She will open Los Angeles Opera's 2013-14 season this September in the title role of Bizet's Carmen.

Countertenor Christophe Dumaux has sung Tolomeo in numerous productions, including the premiere of McVicar's staging at Glyndebourne and the U.S. premiere in Chicago; a concert staging with Les Arts Florissants at the Salle Pleyel in Paris; and productions at the Paris Opera, Dresden State Opera, and Salzburg Festival. He made his Met debut in 2006 as Unulfo in Rodelinda.

Guido Loconsolo makes his Met debut as Achilla, a role he has sung at Glyndebourne. Earlier this season, he sang the title role in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro with that company, Publio in a new production of La Clemenza di Tito at Madrid's Teatro Real, Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Bolshoi in Moscow, and Plutone in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in Freiburg and Essen, Germany.

All four designers have previous Met credits. Robert Jones made his company debut on opening night of the 2011-12 season as the set designer for McVicar's production of Anna Bolena. Brigitte Reiffenstuel previously designed the costumes for McVicar's Il Trovatore staging and David Alden's 2012 production of Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera. Paule Constable's lighting design credits includeAnna Bolena, Michael Grandage's staging of Mozart's Don Giovanni, and the Met premiere of Philip Glass's Satyagraha. Andrew George choreographed Anna Bolena and provided new dances for Franco Zeffirelli's production of Don Giovanni in 2000.

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