3 reasons why Orlando has been sold out for weeks and 3 reasons why that is justified

Even before the Holland Festival had begun properly, all tickets for the three performances of Handel's Orlando sold. What a crisis. However, it is not hard to guess why.

1. Pierre Audi

The outgoing festival director signs on to direct. Compared to previous editions, Audi is less present as a performer and, of course, many want to see not only his choices but also his own work. All the more so as his previous Handel stage directions made a big impression.

And no one is disappointed, as this performance captivates from beginning to end. And that is clever because Orlando is a very static opera. The most dramatic climax - the setting fire to Dorinda's house - comes only in the third act, and even that Handel does not show but lets it be narrated. For a long time, the second act is even nothing more than a series of separate arias.

Audi, however, plays phenomenally with time, showing the burnt-down house as early as the first act, the second act as an anguished vision of Orlando, and in the third act precisely rebuilding the house. In doing so, he makes emphatic use of video projections with flashbacks and flashforwards. And of course, real fire is not missing, just at the moments you don't expect it.

2. Bejun Mehta

You have countertenors and you have very good countertenors. And then you have Bejun Mehta. A world star. Name any major opera house and he has sung there. Not only does he have a fabulous technique, he also knows how to flawlessly put every possible emotion in his voice and has an expressive face.

He shows all that in the title role. Everyone holds their breath for madness aria with which the second act concludes, Mehta knows it, and sings as if hellhounds are at his heels.

3. René Jacobs

Operas conducted by René Jacobs are never boring. You can sometimes disagree with his choices, but there is always something happening in the orchestra pit.

Especially here. Jacobs is known for an authentic performance, but deliberately opts for an 'unhistorical' scoring of the continuo: "In theory, the scoring of the continuo was a free decision of the Kapellmeister, according to the resources available." And so we hear two harpsichords, an organ, regal, two lutes and a harp. It results in a "fat" Handel, where the recitatives are finally as important as the arias.

So it is logical that everything tickets quickly flew out the door. But at Amsterdam's Stadsschouwburg it turned out: there is more.

1. B'Rock

The young Belgian baroque orchestra B'Rock does not have the reputation of Concerto Köln or the Freiburger Barockorchester, but sparkles from the first note to the last and does not shy away from fortissimo.

2. Jean Kalman

Audi turns Orlando into a fireman with pyromania. Light and especially dark play an important role. The lighting design by Jean Kalman, with whom Audi has worked many times before, fits in beautifully. Just the way he uses light to evoke the torches of the firefighters in the burnt-out house is brilliant.

3. Sunhae Im

Countertenor Bejun Mehta may be star of the Orlando be, he is surpassed by South Korean soprano Sunhae Im (Dorinda). All her arias grow into highlights of the opera and as an actress, she leaves all other soloists behind. She does so not with grand gestures, but with her facial expressions, an occasional small hand movement, restrained trembling with anger. Impressive.