L’ORFEO

Concert Version

The myth of Orpheus is one of the darkest and most symbolic of all Hellenic mythology. Of ancient origins, Orpheus is the “singer” par excellence, the musician and the poet. It was said that he knew how to sing and play such sensitive songs that wild beasts followed him, the plant kingdom bowed down before him and the fiercest of men became completely calm.

On the other hand, on the occasion of the wedding of Maria de Medici and Henry IV, King of France, in the Medici’s Florence of 1600, Jacopo Peri and Giulio Caccini had premiered their Euridice, considered the first opera (now sadly no longer in existence). In opposition to this event, Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and a fervent lover of the arts, wanted to counterattack with the commissioning and premiere of a new opera. An artistic movement, but also a political one. This is how Claudio Montever di’s Orfeo was born.

L’Orfeo, favola in musica premiered on 24 February 1607 in a small hall of the Palaz zo Ducale in Mantua: almost the first opera or, at any rate, the oldest surviving comple te opera. It was the beginning of a new era: L’Oracolo della musica put into practice the experimental language he had already used in his last madrigals, developing a new sound language that would represent the transition between the Renaissance and the Baroque. The literary text was in perfect communion with the music, becoming courtly entertain ment that incited enormous interest and un limited possibilities.

On the podium, René Jacobs, a unique expert of these repertoires, completes the portrait commissioned by the theatre to review three operatic Orfeos: those by Telemann, Gluck and Monteverdi. Jacobs, acclaimed as one of the public’s favourite conductors from this musical period, will lead us into the mysteries of this score, which retains all its modernity despite being more than 400 years old.

Raffaele Pe

Contratenor. With his album Giulio Cesare. A Baroque Hero, he received the 2019 Abbiati Prize from Italian music critics for the best album. He regularly works with conductors and stage directors such as Jordi Savall, John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Giovanni Antonini, Graham Vick, Claus Guth, Pierluigi Pizzi and Damiano Michieletto. This is his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Yannick Debus

Baritone. Born in Hamburg, he trained at the Lübeck Academy of Music where he earned a double degree in voice with Michael Gehrke and music theory and aural training with Oliver Korte and Holger Best. Recent engagements include his collaboration with René Jacobs in Händel's oratorio Israel in Egypt and his role as Apollo (Apollo e Dafne). This is his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Neal Davies

Baritone. He studied at King's College London and the Royal Academy of Music and won the Lieder Prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition in 1991. He has performed with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons, the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Pierre Boulez, the Cleveland and Philharmonia Orchestras with Christoph von Dohnányi and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, among others. He is a regular guest at the Edinburgh Festival and BBC Proms. This is his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Ren Jacobs

Conductor. With more than 260 recordings to his credit, as well as a career as a singer, conductor and scholar, he has become one of the leading names in the field of Baroque and vocal music. He began his musical training as a member of the choir of the Cathedral of Sant Bavo in Ghent, his hometown. Shortly afterwards he began his career as a countertenor, which sparked his interest in Baroque music. He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2021/22 season with the concert version of Orpheus