Considering how rarely celebrated diva Cecilia Bartoli appears in London, Wigmore Hall certainly pulled off a coup by making her duo concert with Philippe Jaroussky happen.
Amor vien dal destino, by the celebrated multi-talented Italian Agostino Steffani, receives its first staging in 300 years in Berlin's Schiller Theater under the direction of René Jacobs.
In spite of superb performances from the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra and the two lead soloists, Steffani’s Niobe at the Concertgebouw offers too few inspired moments to make it truly memorable.
La lotta d’Ercole con Acheloo has never been performed in Italy before, so this production sheds light on both Steffani's work and on this Festival's high quality.
In 2008, conductor Thomas Hengelbrock rediscovered Niobe, Regina di Tebe, written in 1687 by the Venetian-born, German-based composer Agostino Steffani. Although now little remembered, Steffani was a world-famous composer in his day and a man of many talents who became a diplomat and bishop as well as being a musician.
C’est en 2002 que Philippe Jaroussky vient chanter pour la première fois au Festival de Froville : il n’a alors que 24 ans et sa carrière débute. Ce n’est plus le même Philippe Jaroussky que l’on retrouve à Froville en 2016, dont la maturité et la maîtrise vocale se sont affirmées durant ces années.
Le Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra et pas moins de neufs chanteurs issus de différents horizons étaient réunis pour l’exécution du septième opéra en trois actes du compositeur italien Agostino Steffani, Niobe, Regina di Tebe.
