On January 24, in the Liepaja concert hall “Lielais dzintars”, the crystal clear soprano Regula Mühlemann and the internationally recognized baroque orchestra “La Folia Barockorchester” dedicated to the audience the most magnificent baroque arias about Cleopatra. The concert program revealed various stories and versions about the fate of this mysterious, feminine and powerful ruler, informs Anita Lazdeniece-Grīnberga, SIA “Lielais Dzintars” public relations specialist.
“La Folia Barockorchester” and Regulas Mīlemane are a musically bright and powerful combination that has earned the praise of many music critics. At the concert in Liepāja, baroque arias from their joint album “Cleopatra – Baroque Arias” (2017) were performed, for which the soloist received the “Opuss Klassik” award as “Young Singer of the Year” in 2018.
The concert opened with a symphony from Carl Heinrich Graun’s opera “Cleopatra and Caesar” and its aria “Tra le procelle”, where Cleopatra is in a fatal mood about the losses and misfortunes she has experienced. On the other hand, in Giovanni Legrenzi’s aria from the opera “Antiochus the Great”, Cleopatra talks about her inner strength, becoming the first female regent and the opportunity for women to decide their own destiny.
The audience could experience this queen completely gentle, passionate and in love in Alessandro Scarlatti’s recitative and aria from the cantata “Mark Antony and Cleopatra”, where the strong love story of the two unfolds. A completely different Cleopatra – forced by circumstances, but respectful of her freedom, rebellious – was revealed in the aria from Antonio Vivaldi’s opera “Tigrans”, where she is forcibly married to the ruler of Armenia.
The second part of the program started with an unexpected surprise for the listeners. Regula Mielemane, truly embodying royal greatness, flowed into the hall from the audience with her beautiful and strong voice, dedicating to the audience a recitative and an aria from Johann Adolf Hasse’s serenade “Mark Antony and Cleopatra”, which tells of Cleopatra’s choice in favor of a clear death, instead of harsh humiliation after defeat.
Among these arias during the concert, the leader of the performance of the “La Folia Barockorchester” and the baroque orchestra, violinist Robin Peters Müller (Robin Peter Müller), gave a refreshing and exciting interpretation of Antonio Vivaldi’s violin concerto “The Great Mogul” and Francesco Gemignani’s version of Alessandro Corelli’s variations on one of the most famous melodies in the history of world music – “La follia”.
This bright musical adventure was followed by a recitative and an aria from George Frideric Handel’s heroic opera “Julius Caesar in Egypt”, which tells about Cleopatra’s love for Caesar and worries about his fate. However, the audience could appreciate the wide range of emotions, ambitions and majesty of this ruler at the end of the concert, when Hase’s aria “Morte col fiero aspetto horror” was played.
In gratitude for the audience’s standing ovation, the musicians dedicated two musical encores, in which the orchestra’s harpist Kateřina Ghannudi was a bright surprise, showing the beauty of her darkly beautiful voice both solo and in a small duet with Regula Mīlemani.
Swiss soprano Regula Mīlemane is one of the brightest opera and concert artists of her generation, widely recognized for her crystal clear voice and sensual interpretation. Audiences and critics have highly appreciated him for his roles at the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and the Salzburg Festival. 2024/2025 In the season of 2018, she performed with such collectives as the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the “Utopia” orchestra under the direction of Teodor Kurendzis and the “Balthasar Neumann” orchestra, with which the opera singer makes her debut in Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” and continues to perform works by Strauss and Mahler in the most prestigious halls of Europe. Regula Mīlemane is an exclusive artist of Sony Classical and her recordings – including Cleopatra, Mozart II and Fairy Tales – have won several Opus Klassik awards.
Since its founding in 2007, “La Folia Barockorchester” has set a new bar of creativity for baroque music, giving it wildness and vital colors. At the same time, the orchestra’s interpretations show a deep respect for the historical material and a desire to reveal the emotions of the Baroque era to the modern listener. The orchestra regularly performs in prestigious concert halls, including the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonic, the Vienna “Musikverein”, international festivals, and also cooperates with notable soloists, such as Regula Mielemans, Anna Proháskas, Bejuna Mehta, etc. The orchestra’s recordings under the auspices of the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony record label have received high recognition, including the “Opus Klassik” award.
The concert “Cleopatra. Ruler in the light of the baroque” was organized by SIA “Lielais Dzintars” with the support of the municipality of the city of Liepāja and the State Cultural Capital Fund.
