Digital programme booklet
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Orfeo: Cecilia Bartoli
Euridice: Francesca Aspromonte
Amore: Laura AndreiniFeaturing:
Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco
Il Canto di OrfeoConductor:
Gianluca Capuano
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The reform opera Orfeo ed Euridice, composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) in collaboration with the poet Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, is a genuine operatic hit, but most people are only familiar with the 1762 Vienna or 1774 Paris versions of this musical journey to the underworld of the singer with magical powers. Between these two adaptations, however, the composer also created a further variant commissioned in 1769 by Empress Maria Theresa for the grand celebrations marking the dynastic marriage of the Archduchess Maria Amalia of Habsburg and Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma (of the House of Bourbon). One act of the occasional piece Le feste d’Apollo was the Orfeo version (Atto d’Orfeo) tailored to the tastes and possibilities of the Parma side of the marriage, which, after several centuries in the wilderness, became available for contemporary audiences to discover just over a decade ago.
Here in Budapest, this wonderful experience will be offered to the public as a concert-style performance with perhaps the most exciting, versatile and energetic opera singer of our time, Cecilia Bartoli, in one of the title roles as the piece’s guiding spirit.
She brought the Parma version to Salzburg as festival director in 2023 and also serves as the artistic director of the splendid orchestra for tonight’s concert, Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco, which was formed in 2016 on her initiative. Alongside Bartoli’s Orfeo, the opera’s two other roles will be performed by distinguished young Italian sopranos Francesca Aspromonte (Euridice) and Laura Andreini (Amore). The conductor of the concert, Gianluca Capuano, has been a regular collaborator of Bartoli’s for almost a decade. The partnership between the two artists has remained strong and enduring to this day: in Salzburg just as in Monte Carlo, where Capuano has been chief conductor of Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco since 2019. In 2005, he founded the historical ensemble Il Canto di Orfeo, which has been a returning fixture at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Salzburg Festival since 2019.
© Fabrice Demessence
Change
We would like to inform you that Melissa Petit had to cancel the performance because she feels unwell. Francesca Aspromonte will take over the role of Euridice, Laura Andreini will take over the role of Amore today.
Thank you for your understanding.
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Orfeo: Cecilia Bartoli
Euridice: Francesca Aspromonte
Amore: Laura AndreiniFeaturing:
Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco
Il Canto di OrfeoConductor:
Gianluca Capuano
-
The reform opera Orfeo ed Euridice, composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) in collaboration with the poet Ranieri de’ Calzabigi, is a genuine operatic hit, but most people are only familiar with the 1762 Vienna or 1774 Paris versions of this musical journey to the underworld of the singer with magical powers. Between these two adaptations, however, the composer also created a further variant commissioned in 1769 by Empress Maria Theresa for the grand celebrations marking the dynastic marriage of the Archduchess Maria Amalia of Habsburg and Ferdinand I, Duke of Parma (of the House of Bourbon). One act of the occasional piece Le feste d’Apollo was the Orfeo version (Atto d’Orfeo) tailored to the tastes and possibilities of the Parma side of the marriage, which, after several centuries in the wilderness, became available for contemporary audiences to discover just over a decade ago.
Here in Budapest, this wonderful experience will be offered to the public as a concert-style performance with perhaps the most exciting, versatile and energetic opera singer of our time, Cecilia Bartoli, in one of the title roles as the piece’s guiding spirit.
She brought the Parma version to Salzburg as festival director in 2023 and also serves as the artistic director of the splendid orchestra for tonight’s concert, Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco, which was formed in 2016 on her initiative. Alongside Bartoli’s Orfeo, the opera’s two other roles will be performed by distinguished young Italian sopranos Francesca Aspromonte (Euridice) and Laura Andreini (Amore). The conductor of the concert, Gianluca Capuano, has been a regular collaborator of Bartoli’s for almost a decade. The partnership between the two artists has remained strong and enduring to this day: in Salzburg just as in Monte Carlo, where Capuano has been chief conductor of Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco since 2019. In 2005, he founded the historical ensemble Il Canto di Orfeo, which has been a returning fixture at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and the Salzburg Festival since 2019.
© Fabrice Demessence
