Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble (Germany)
Artistic Director Thomas Hengelbrock
"A masterful dramaturgical accomplishment" ¡Ð Mittelbayerische Zeitung
"Colourful, spontaneous musicality, with perfect voices and sonorous timbre" ¡Ð Musik & Theatre
A scrumptious musical banquet recreating the vitality of 17th-century Italian carnivals
Inspired by the exuberance of 17th-century carnivals in Venice, Florence and Naples, German conductor Thomas Hengelbrock has put together an unconventional musical programme full of love, joy and festivity. His 28 hand-picked singers and instrumentalists dress in beautiful costumes and masks to perform early Baroque music ¡V including madrigals, operatic excerpts and masquerades ¡V by masters such as Claudio Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli and Marc Antonio Cesti to bring back the bewitching atmosphere of these colourful carnivals.
Thomas Hengelbrock and the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble focus on combining music with literature and different performing arts, developing many innovative musical productions. Since his opera debut at the Vienna Festival in 1993 with Gluck's Alceste, Hengelbrock has conducted numerous opera performances including works by Galuppi and Giovanni Legrenzi. He achieved great success at the Schwetzingen Festival with Mozart's Magic Flute in 2002. In 2005, Hengelbrock directed the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble in Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice, choreographed by Pina Bausch, at the Opéra Garnier in Paris.
| Programme Highlights: |
| Monteverdi |
Vorrei baciarti, o Filli (from Madrigals, Book 7) |
| Cavalli |
Pur t'hò colta, assassina (from La Didone) |
| Cesti |
Ferma la, non urtar, t'uccidero (from L'Orontea) |
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