By Carlo Vitali [MusicalAmerica.com, 10 April 2007]

GENOA – The late Herbert Wernicke’s controversial yet witty Handel-ian send-up of “Giulio Cesare” is best described as a kind of neo-Baroque pasticcio, featuring arias from such other of the composer’s operas as “Rinaldo”, “Orlando” or “Tolomeo,” and re-arranged numbers occasionally re-distributed among the characters. Judging by the reception the revival of this 1998 production received April 1 at Teatro Carlo Felice, the piece has achieved cult status, even in the eyes of the Italian public, which is generally wary of such German-style regie-theater.