There are so many ways to write about the impeccably polished English Consort led by Harry Bicket. But what comes to mind after the sparkling orchestral playing and the sensationally attuned vocal ensemble in Giulio Cesare in Egitto is how much fun they have with this Baroque opera seria.

Fun may not be the operative word for a libretto based on one of history’s great stories, but its presence is undeniable. Framed by the strategic love affair of Cesare and Cleopatra, the opera is filled with enough treachery, political intrigue and familial conflict to rival any television series currently streaming.

Nicola Haym, Handel’s librettist and long time collaborator, skillfully balanced the comedy amidst the goings-on while Handel composed arias, ariosi and recitative that flash with wit and dramatic intensity. The opportunities for skillfully calibrated ornamentation are met by a consistently first-rate cast of singers.

Presented as an opera in concert, Bicket’s group is costumed in sleek evening attire with just enough flourish to suggest their characters. Their constant movement, energetic, expressive and at moments a little zany, is invigorating.

Cleopatra, sung with wicked flair and lovely resolution by soprano, Louise Alder, sporting a tiara and often barefoot, is quite the comic as well as seductress. Countertenor, Christophe Dumaux’s Cesare, has the robust vocal swagger of a man whose business is conquering the world, falling in love and resolving a royal sister-brother conflict between Cleopatra and Tolomeo, along the way.

Conversely Beth Taylor, singing the noble Cornelia, wife of Pompey who was slain by Tolomeo’s men as a tribute to Cesare (Cesare respected his rival) and Paula Murrihy as her son Sesto, are for the most part bound by their grief and desire for justice. The relative stillness of these fine mezzo sopranos evokes the indignities and suffering imposed by Tolomeo.

Sung with campy abandon by countertenor, John Holiday, his Tolomeo is a scene-stealing divo, edgy and pompous, whose obsequious charm is laced with poison. Hearing Holiday and Dumaux have at it is a reminder that Handel was a master of vocal effect.

The English Consort launched a tradition with its annual visits to Carnegie Hall; touring Handel operas to a steadily increasing number of major halls throughout the world. This year’s presentation of Giulio Ceasare in Egitto, perhaps the most popular of the composer’s operas, will surely win new friends and satisfy those who already value the ensemble’s rare qualities of precision, intensity and, yes, theatrical fire.

The orchestra launched its ambitious Handel for All project in 2023, and continues the process of filming and making freely available all of Handel’s works online. Learn more about this extraordinary undertaking at englishconcert.co.uk – and while you’re there, listen to Handel’s Foundling Hospital Anthem. Filmed at London’s Barbican Center, this 1749 work speaks with grace and urgency to our divided world. Handel is, indeed, the total package and Harry Bicket’s English Consort his invaluable messenger.