September 5, Saturday, 5 pm
Palace of the Grand Dukes, Katedros a. 4, Vilnius
To celebrate opera's birthday in Lithuania
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
L'Orfeo
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio the Younger (c.1573-1630)
Music director Darius Stabinskas
Stage director Vaidotas Martinaitis
Choreographers Jūratė Širvytė-Rukštelė, Jekaterina Deineko
Brevis Choir and Consort (Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway, France)
Directors Gintautas Venislovas and Darius Stabinskas
Roles and performers
- Orfeo – Stein Skjervold, baritone (Norway)
- Euridice – Edita Bagdonaitė-Venislovienė, soprano (Lithuania)
- La Musica, Speranza – Rūta Vosyliūtė, soprano (Lithuania)
- Messaggiera – Nora Petročenko, soprano (Lithuania)
- Ninfa, Proserpina – Ieva Gaidamavičiūtė-Barkauskė, soprano (Lithuania)
- Pastore, Apollo – Mario Cecchetti, tenor (Italy)
- Pastore – Mindaugas Jankauskas, tenor (Lithuania)
- Pastore – Radosław Pachołek, kontratenoras (Poland)
- Caronte – Nerijus Masevičius, bass (Lithuania)
- Plutone – Artūras Miknaitis, bass (Lithuania)
- Ninfe, Pastori, Spiriti infernali – Brevis Choir
- Šokėjai Ieva Beleckaitė, Kristina Zvilnaitė, Andrius Butkys, Edmundas Žička
Brevis Consort: Pavel Amilcar – violin (Spain), Ūla Kinderytė – violin (Lithuania / United Kingdom), Rodrigo Calveyra – corentto, recorders (Brazil / France), Tomasz Dobrzański – recorders (Poland), Marian Magiera – cornetto (Poland), Mateusz Kowalski – viola da gamba (Poland), Darius Stabinskas – viola da gamba (Lithuania), Maciej Kaziński – violone (Poland), Diana Fazzini – lirone (Italy), Michele Carreca – theorbo, renaissance guitar (Italy), Frank Pschichholz – theorbo, baroque guitar (Germany), Flora Papadopoulos – harp (Italy), Marco Vitale – harpsichord, organ (Italy)
Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo is considered the first, real classical opera from which the history of opera and development of this genre began. Monteverdi was the first to introduce the violin into the opera orchestra, wrote the first opera overture in music history, and the first opera duet. For this work the composer used a very revolutionary idea conceived by Giulio Caccini and other members of the Florentine camerata – the new recitar cantando mode of singing (speak through singing), which is why many of the opera’s motifs are not melodic but declamatory. The texture of equal voices is often divided, becoming a duet harmonically supported by the bass line, while ornamental dissonances and enhancements that would have been improvised by the performers are now recorded in the L’Orfeo score.
2015 marks 400 years since the release of the second edition of the opera in Venice that has survived to our days. On the occasion of this anniversary and Opera Day in Lithuania, this unique early Baroque masterpiece will be performed by an international team experienced in early music performance.