Opera lovers have an important appointment with the Palau de la Música Catalana this season. The well-known Barcelona auditorium premieres a new cycle that, under the title of Palau Òpera , will bring five of the most representative works of the Baroque to its stages by the hand of leading international voices, and such important formations and conductors as Vox Luminis and Lionel Meunier, Europa Galante and Fabio Biondi, Forma Antiqva and Aaron Zapico.
The works of the German Georg Friedrich Händel, the Italian Claudio Monteverdi and the British Henry Purcell, all of them referents of their time that marked the destiny of the opera and that gave it all the relevance that accompanies it today, can be enjoyed during this cycle organized by the Palau de la Música Catalana.
The Palau Òpera program will take place between October 6 and March 16, 2022 and will consist of five works: Radamisto, Giulio Cesare, Orfeo , considered one of the first operas in history; The Fairy Queen and King Arthur . All of them are productions in concert version specially designed for a room like the Palau de la Música Catalana, which has a unique space and acoustics, as well as a unique architecture.
The French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky , who has visited the Palau de la Música Catalana more than once in the final stretch of 2021, does so on this occasion as headliner for the first proposal of the new Palau Òpera cycle. Radamisto , the story of the King of Armenia set to music by Händel on a libretto by Nicola Francesco Haym , presents a cast in which the names of the soprano Emöke Barath and the alto Marie-Nicole Lemieux stand out . They are accompanied by the specialized training Il Pomo d’Oro , this time under the command of Francesco Corti .
This work is considered the first opera in history. Orfeo , with music by Claudio Monteverdi on a libretto by Alessandro Striggio, could not be absent from the first edition of the new Palau Òpera cycle at the Palau de la Música Catalana. It has a luxurious cast, which includes prominent names in early music such as Ian Bostridge, Roberta Invernizzi or Fabio Biondi at the head of its Europa Galante line-up , and which guarantees the success of a production in which the institution will participate directly with the contribution of the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música Catalana .
GIULIO CESARE DE HÄNDEL WITH ANTIQVA SHAPE
Händel , one of the most famous composers of Baroque opera, returns to the first edition of the Palau Òpera cycle with Giulio Cesare in Egitto , one of the culminating titles of the Italian opera seasons of the British nationalized German composer in London. The Forma Antiqva ensemble , led by Aaron Zapico , will accompany a trail of soloists that, led by soprano Carolyn Sampson , also includes prominent names such as Hilary Summers and countertenors Christopher Lowrey and Konstantin Derri .
Henry Purcell is one of the great bets of the first edition of the Palau Òpera cycle with the programming of two titles by the Vox Luminis formation , directed by Lionel Meunier . On this occasion, King Arthur , one of the last works of the British composer and also one of the most innovative at the time, will have the participation of the actor Pere Arquillué as narrator, since a good part of this dramatic or semi-opera consists of text spoken.
The fairy Queen contains some of the most famous excerpts from Henry Purcell’s catalogand from the entire history of opera. For this reason, he could not miss the first edition of the Palau Òpera cycle, which dedicates a special space to the British composer. The specialized formation Vox Luminis , directed by Lionel Meunier , will offer us this succession of masquerades – the English replica of Italian and French opera at the end of the 17th century – with which Purcell triumphed in London theaters.
