Operas
Operas
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
Operas
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.
Operas
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.
Operas
NITTETI. Nicola Conforto (1718-1793)
Madrid, Real Coliseo del Buen Retiro, 1756
Opera seria in 3 acts
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio
Juan Bautista Otero, Conductor
AMASI, tenore.
SAMMETE, soprano.
BEROE, soprano.
NITTETI, soprano.
AMENOFI, soprano.
BUBASTE, contralto.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company from Barcelona: 24 musicians and 6 soloist.
CONCERT TIMING: 2'50'' with two pauses of 10 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82
La Nitteti was a commission by Farinelli to Metastasio who wrote this libretto exclusively for the Royal Court in Madrid. Metastasio invested over one year to finish this brilliant text after receiving an special permission from empress Maria Theresia of Austria, his patroness, who finally authorized him to write a libretto for another court other than the austrian. Along with a beautiful sonnet dedicated by the poet to his friend Carlo Broschi, Farinelli, the libretto of Nitteti arrived in Madrid at the same time as the neapolitan composer Nicola Conforto whom Farinelli had commissioned the music. Nitteti was an stunning success: it enjoyed more than 20 performances over 3 years. Farinelli had such a predilection for this work that he specially commissioned oil paintings of the main scenes to the stage designer and painter Francesco Battaglioli. These originally hung on the walls of the royal box at the Royal Theater of the Buen Retiro in Madrid and, in his exile back to Italy, Farinelli he took them to Bologna.
Juan Bautista Otero has recently published the first full score critical edition of this opera based on the main manuscripts from Madrid, Naples and Lisbon, and after the first rehearsals approach by the RCOC orchestra, we all look forward to 2012 RCOC world premiere performance and recording of this masterpiece of the rococo.
Operas
L'ARBORE DI DIANA, Vicent Martín i Soler (1754-1806)
Viena, Burgtheater,1787
Dramma giocoso in two acts
Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte
Juan Bautista Otero, Conductor
DIANA, soprano.
AMORE, soprano.
ENDIMIONE, tenore.
DORISTO, barítono.
BRITOMARTE, soprano.
CLOE, mezzosoprano.
CLIZIA, soprano.
SILVIO, tenore.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company: 34 musicians and 8 soloists.1 chorus profesional of 16 singers.
CONCERT TIMING: 2'50'' with one pause of 20 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82
Vicente Martín y Soler (Valencia, 2 May 1754-St. Petersburg, 30 January 1806) composed over 30 operas and around 20 ballets for the leading theatres in Europe, including the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, the Burgtheater, Vienna, the Hermitage, St. Petersburg and the King’s Theatre, London.
His works were performed by some of the most of the renowned singers of the time (the castrato Luigi Marchesi, the tenors Giovanni Ansani and Michael Kelly, the sopranos Maria Balducci, Luisa Todi and Nancy Storace) and the prestigious choreographers with whom he worked included Charles Lepicq and Domenico Rossi.
He served the most powerful figures of Europe during the Age of Enlightenment: he was the royal favourite of the Emperor Joseph II of Austria, Catherine of Russia and her brother Paul I, as well as Philip, Duke of Parma, and Ferdinand I of Naples.
And if that wasn’t enough, he collaborated with some of the most brilliant librettists from the last quarter of the eighteenth century, from Lorenzo Da Ponte and Luigi Serio to the revolutionary Moretti and Cigna-Santi.
Like Martín, Da Ponte maintained a spirit of social criticism as well as a continuous urge for innovation throughout his entire career. In his own writings he declared the primordial objective of his librettos was to employ consolidated literary genres –such as pastoral poetry or Goldonian drama– to introduce new musical, literary, social and philosophical ideas. He used the majority of the creative resources from his ballets and opere serie to serve the dramma giocoso. As a result were the resounding successes of his Viennese operas: Il burbero di buon cuore, 20 performances, Una cosa rara, 55 and L’Arbore di Diana, 65. Once again, it is worth stressing that he had the best performers at his disposal. The cast of Una cosa rara and Diana consisted of some of the same singers who premiered Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte including the sopranos Nancy Storace, Luisa Laschi, Anna Morichelli, the tenors Michael Kelly, Vincenzo Calvesi and the baritone Stefano Mandini.
The formal innovations he incorporated into his drammi giocosi and stage cantatas included the propulsion of the beginning of the opera with a vigorous ensemble composition. This can be seen in the terzetto “Zitto, zitto non parlate” from Diana or the three- and four-part introductions to Una cosa rara and Il burbero, instead of the recitative secco of the opere serie. Divided in two acts, with many very expressive ensemble parts, short arias and long finales, Martín’s works were also characterised by the incorporation of rhythmic-melodic forms deriving from the Spanish seguidilla. These melodies recalled the carmagnoles of the French Revolution and harmonic progressions more typical of Schubertian Lied than of classical opera. On the other hand, many of the features of his dramme giocosi are marked by elements more characteristic of tragicomedies: Endimione, the Prince, Silvio and Clizia, always present the contrast between the dignity of their mythical origins or high social standing, and the fragility of their reactions. They are not completely buffo characters; this can be seen in the arias “Più bianca” and “Liete e amorosi i rai”, sung by the Prince and Endimione, respectively. The elegiac, precious, porcelain-like delicate treatment of the latter coincides with the personality of the noble shepherd, the personification of the eternal dream, the silver-lined kiss of the moon, so exalted by poets.
Martín y Soler undoubtedly represented the avant-garde at the end of the eighteenth century. His extraordinary works raise questions, but don’t seem to provide responses to that transgression of the idyllic… How much had been written about Arcadia until then? Yet here, the oneiric is the carnal, and Martín y Soler’s output is revealed in the guise of a troubled man still without a response, though open to a new conception of humanity at the dawn of the nineteenth century, which is so applicable today.
Operas
IL RE PASTORE, Antonio Mazzoni (1717-1785)
Madrid, Real Coliseo del Buen retiro, 1754
Opera seria in 3 acts
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio
Juan Bautista Otero, Conductor
AMINTA, Anna Maria Panzarella,soprano.
TAMIRI,Céline Ricci,soprano.
ALESSANDRO, Leif Aruhn-Solén,tenore.
ELISA, Delphine Gillot,soprano.
AGENORE, Marina Pardo,mezzosoprano.
Orchestra -RCOC- Royal Chamber Opera Company Barcelona: 24 musicians and 5 Soloists
CONCERT TIMING: 2'15'' with one pause of 15 minutes.
CONCERT ENGAGEMENT CONTACT:
concerts@rcoc-orquesta.com
Tel.0034.609.84.98.82
Il rè pastore is an extraordinary work commissioned by Farinelli to the Italian composer Antonio Mazzoni (1717-1785), after the huge success in Lisbon of his two previous operas, La Clemenza di Tito and Antigono. Mazzoni's early return to Italy due to the terrible Lisbon earthquake of November 1755, Farinelli seized his chance to present the prestigious composer at the Teatro del Buen Retiro in an usual opera for King Ferdinand VI: "There is no inconstancy or ambition where there is true love, or the Shepherd King. "
Faithfully adhering to the dynamic original libretto by Metastasio, Mazzoni composed a sublime opera seria in three acts, shorter than usual, which in my opinion constitutes a synthesis of the pathos, delicacy and virtuosity of what one might call the "Farinelli sound". Surprisingly avant-garde elements of refined musical dramaturgy and extremely elaborate orchestral and vocal writing, which exceeds the framework of a strictly Neapolitan idiom, are among the characteristics of a genuinely original compositional style which undoubtly deserves rediscovery in our own time. With a duration (at around two hours) shorter than that of a conventional opera seria, a limited number of soloists (five) and an orchestra of the size used for a large-scale opera seria, this work is a particularly attractive one for performers, audiences and concert organizers alike.
