Orchestra

 
CONCERTS ON TOUR 2011-2012 SEASON

 

Orchestra

SESOSTRI, Domènec Terradellas (1713-1751)
Rome, Teatro Alibert delle Dame, 1751
Barcelona, Teatre de la Santa Creu, 1754
Opera seria in 3 acts
Libretto by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati

JUAN BAUTISTA OTERO, Director
SUNHAE IM soprano, Sesostri
ALEXANDRINA PENDANTCHASKA soprano, Nitocri
KENNETH TARVER tenor, Amasi
DITTE H. ANDERSEN soprano, Artenice
TOM RANDLE tenor, Fanete
RAFAELLA MILANESI soprano, Orgonte
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 24 musicians and 6 soloists.
CONCERT TIMING: 2'50'' with two pauses of 10 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

Terradellas’ music, with a captivating theatrical intelligence and clarity, illustrates exceptionally well this new trend of ideas. Perhaps more sensitive to these new elements in its construction than in previous operas such as 'Astarto' (recently located) or 'Merope', in 'Artaserse' he shows us a greater precision in his musical composition. He manages to transform the corseted formal structuralism of opera seria taking it to its ultimate dramatic conclusions thanks to a melodic spontaneity, a concept of orchestra/character that exudes adrenalin from the first bars. He does not detain himself with isolated harmonic refinement that would dull this irrepressible description of the character, as the essential aim of his music is to assault our senses, bring that character to life until it possesses us.
A cataclysm of sound like that of Terradellas eclipses the melodic subtlety of the old Venetian or Roman melodic schools. To our ear it seems to lose weight, while the impulses of pure melody gravitate, as if divested of superfluous rhetoric. And it is that strength, that orchestral solidity without concessions, that vigorous containment of the melody of Terradellas which precisely catches our attention in the heart of a Neapolitan school which is characterised above all for its orchestral ingenuity, but also for its excess of notes. The singularity of 'Merope' –with an extraordinary libretto- or the expressiveness with which the personality of the Barcelona composer is shown in 'Artaserse', are contrasted with the sophistication of 'Sesostri'. Hence to begin the modern edition of Terradellas complete operas, from among his whole operatic corpus, the Royal Chamber Opera Company has chosen one of the most representative works of genius of this brilliant Catalonian composer: ‘Sesostri’.

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Orchestra

IL SOGNO & LA DORA FESTEGGIANTE
Vicent Martin i Soler (Valencia 1754-Saint Petersbourg 1806)
Il Sogno, Viena 1789. Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. La Dora Festeggiante, Turín 1783. Libretto by Cesare Olivieri

Juan Bautista Otero, Director Sunhae Im, Soprano Raffaella Milanesi, Soprano Magnus Staveland, Tenor
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 3 soloists and 28 musicians.
CONCERT TIMING: 1'30'' without pause.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

The present programme combines the two only stage cantatas by Martín y Soler located up to now: La Dora festeggiante (Torino, 1783), with a libretto by Cesare Olivieri, and Il Sogno (Vienna, 1787) - the only example of collaboration of Martín y Soler with Da Ponte in this most extensive form of the genre; both, together with Il re Gerone (Naples, 1779) with text by Luigi Serio and La deità benefica (San Petersburgo,1790), with text by Ferdinando Moretti, constitute the main corpus of profane cantatas of the Valencian composer.

Prologue of celebration for his operas Il Vologeso and In amor ci vuol destrezza, and first performed at the Teatro Regio, La Dora festeggiante was written to celebrate the arrival in Turin, on the river Dora, of the archduke Fernando -brother of the Austrian emperor Joseph II- and his wife the archduchess Beatrice d’Este. Martín i Soler and Da Ponte’s Il Sogno was dedicated in Vienna to the anniversary of queen Maria Carolina of Naples, sister of Joseph II. Il Sogno and La Dora festeggiante are sublime examples in the transition of Martín y Soler towards the dramma giocoso, genre with which he acquired his prestige throughout Europe; they are a small fresco of this period of transformation in his style: Martín i Soler presents in a synthetic way a subtle fusion of elements of orchestration and melodic exquisiteness typical of his operas serias alternated with the fragility and musical freedom that will characterize his brilliant drammi giocosi

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Orchestra

SOLIMANO, David Pérez (1711-1778)
Lisboa, Teatro da Ajuda 1757.
Cádiz, Teatro Nuevo 1768.
Libretto by Giovanni A.Migliavacca

Juan Bautista Otero, Conductor SOLIMANO, tenor. PERSANE, soprano. SELIMO, mezzosoprano. BARSINA, soprano. ZANGHIRE, soprano. OSMINO, tenor.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company from Barcelona: 24 musicians and 6 soloists.
CONCERT TIMING: 3'10'' with two pauses of 15 minutes
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

Among the variated and numerous composers belonging to the first half of the XVIIIth century neapolitan school, forgotten after their death, outstands David Pérez for the exceptional quality, abundance and significance of his work. Virtuoso violinist and singer, disciple of Mancini, Pérez belonged to a spanish family established in Naples in the XVIIth c.

In 1752 David Pérez was invited by Joseph I king of Portugal to become his court composer and teacher to the royal family in Lissabon.  He stayed at the portuguese capital until his death in 1778 composing a huge amount of operas, produced with the most splendorous fast at the royal theaters. RCOC presents the first world recording and performance of an opera seria by David Pérez, Solimano considered his master piece.

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Orchestra

NARCISO, ovvero 'Amor d'un ombra e gelosia d'un aura'. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Rome, Palazzo Zuccari, 1714.
Londres, King's Theater, 1720.
Libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece

Juan Bautista Otero, Conductor NARCISSO, soprano. ECO, mezzosoprano. PROCRI, soprano. CEFALO, soprano. ARISTEO, tenore.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 14 musicians and 2 soloists.
CONCERT TIMING: 2'50'' with two pauses of 15 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

Narciso ovvero ‘Amor d’un ombra e gelosia d’un aura’ is an exceptional opera which presents the hedonist myth of Narcissus based on two main sources: Ovid and  Calderón. It was composed for the private theater of the polish queen María Casimira at the Palazzo Zuccari in Rome-on the top of the stairs at the Piazza Spagna-, and performed for the first time on 15 January 1714. Considered as one of the best operas of Domenico Scarlatti performed during that carnaval in Rome, it was restaged later with a new version of the text by Handel’s librettist, Paolo Rolli, for the Royal Academy season in London, 1720; the cast of singers included the famous Margarita Durastante (Narciso) and Anastasia Robinson (Eco).
The original libretto -in which the myths of Echo and Narcissus together with Cefalus and Procris mingle-, reintegrates Ovid’s original narration: the essence of nymph Echo’s misfortuned love, Narcissus’ scorn and arrogance, and their tragic end, which character has been superbly depicted by Scarlatti’s music to underline the myth of Youth and Beauty in the Baroque.

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Orchestra

GLI ORTI ESPERIDI, The Garden of the Hesperides, Nicola Porpora (1686-1768)
Naples, Royal Palace, 1721
Componimento Drammatico in 2 parts
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio

Juan Bautista Otero, Director VENERE, soprano. ADONIS, soprano. MARTE, tenor. EGLE, mezzosoprano. PALEMONE, soprano.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company: 13 musicians and 5 soloists
CONCERT TIMING: 1'50'' with one pause of 15 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82

Born in Naples in 1686, Nicola Porpora was one of the most remarkable italian opera composer and singing teacher of the eighteenth century. One year younger than Haendel and Bach, he taught at the Conservatorio of Sant Onofrio (1715-1721) in Naples and afterwards he was appointed maestro di capella at the service of prince Hesse-Darmstadt (1711-1725). In 1726 he moved to Venice, to become maestro at  the Ospedale degli Incurabili, and in 1733 he was appointed principal composer of the Opera of the Nobility in London, competing with Haendel at the King's Theater. Back to Vienna as singing teacher in 1752, where the young Haydn was among his main assistants. He wrote over 50 operas, and several serenatas, one of the most refined example is Gli orti Esperidi (1721), commissioned to celebrate the anniversary of empress Elisabeth Christina of Austria.

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