The Göttingen Handel Festival traditionally opens with a new production of an opera – this year on May 19 it’s Handel’s opera seria Lotario. Meanwhile in Halle, the late oratorio Jephtha is presented by Halle Opera on 26 May for the opening of the Handel Festival there. Tatjana Gürbaca, one of the most sought-after directors of her generation, is responsible for this production, and the conductor is Christoph Spering. A new edition of the opulently-scored 2nd version of 1732 of the oratorio Esther, published in the Halle Handel Edition, has been prepared specially for the first performance using this edition in Halle. The performers on 3 June include top soloists, the chorus of the Capella Cracoviensis and the Italian instrumental ensemble La Risonanza conducted by Fabio Bonizzoni.

At the age of 78 Georg Philipp Telemann wrote his resurrection oratorio for Hamburg. In it he was able to draw on the full experience of his long composing career. A magnificent alternative for Passiontide concerts.

The series L’Opéra français publishes historical-critical editions of French music theatre works, which offer an authoritative basis for performances.

Bärenreiter-Verlag has embarked on a major new project devoted to French music with the launch of a large-scale editorial project to publish the instrumental music of Camille Saint-Saëns in a 36-volume, historical-critical complete edition. The first volume to be published is a new edition of the Symphony in C minor op. 78, known as the Organ Symphony, edited by General Editor Michael Stegemann. The new edition will be launched on 11, 12 and 13 Dezember in the Philharmonie Cologne, performed by the Gürzenich-Orchester Cologne under the baton of its chief conductor François-Xavier Roth. His father Daniel Roth, titular organist at St. Sulpice in Paris, plays the organ. The concert will be broadcast on DeutschlandRadio Kultur, together with an in-depth studio discussion with the editor Michael Stegemann.

Gluck’s duties in Vienna included the provision of “music for the ballets”. His own compositions and pasticci, independent works in their own right, are now being published as part of the Gluck Complete Works.

The operas of Jean-Philippe Rameau have experienced a renaissance in German theatres in recent years. Now the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich is making its own contribution to this rekindled interest with a new production of the opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes, with its homage to exoticism. The first night is on 24 July 2016 in the Prinzregententheater. The choreography and production are by the Flemish-Maroccan dancer and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and the conductor is Ivor Bolton, who has previously been involved in many baroque opera triumphs in Munich. Sylvie Bouissou, Editorial Director of the Opéra Omnia Rameau, has prepared the first critical edition of this work with meticulous accuracy. It survives in several versions, some differing from each other considerably, making this a highly complex editorial undertaking. 

Handel went to great trouble in the composition of his Te Deum marking the British victory in the Battle of Dettingen. Now the work is available as part of the Complete Edition.