Music by Nicola Antonio Porpora
Libretto after Francesco Silvani

ARTISTS

George Petrou – Conductor
Max Emanuel Cencic – Stage Director
Giorgina Germanou – Set Design
Maria Zorba – Costume Design
David Debrinay – Light Design
Dimitra Antonaki – Choreography
Constantina Psoma – Assistant Director

Franco Fagioli – Adalgiso
Max Emanuel Cencic – Lottario
Julia Lezhneva – Gildippe
Suzanne Jerosme – Giuditta
Nian Wang – Eduige
Bruno de Sá – Berardo
Petr Nekoranec – Asprando

Armonia Atenea – Orchestra
Choir of the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival

ABOUT

Carlo il Calvo (Charles the Bald) was first performed in 1738 at Rome’s leading opera house, the Teatro delle Dame. Porpora’s opera is based on a Venetian libretto from 1699, which was set to music under various titles by composers such as Vinaccesi, Keller, Alessandro Scarlatti, Orlandini and Telemann. The score has been preserved in the Naples Conservatory.

The plot takes us to that era of the early Middle Ages when Charlemagne’s Europe was falling apart at the hands of his quarrelling heirs. Its peculiarity is that the title character is a child. Lothar the German, his stepbrother, grandson of Charlemagne, kidnaps the rightful heir to the throne to wrest rule from him. This gives Charlemagne’s mother the opportunity for heartbreaking scenes of despair and breathtaking outbursts of emotion. A parade role for the Russian star soprano Julia Lezhneva. Lottario, seduced into evil by a false advisor, is embodied in pathological hysteria by Max Emanuel Cencic. Franco Fagioli alone, as the noble knight Adalgiso, has what it takes to put a stop to the tyrant and restore the godly order.

The original cast consisted exclusively of men and castrati. Women were not allowed to perform in public in the Holy City. On the stage of the premiere were acclaimed singing stars of Baroque Europe. The vocal demands are correspondingly exorbitant. You can look forward to a vocal festival in a class of its own.