L'INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567 — 1643)

NEW PRODUCTION OF THE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
IN COPRODUCTION WITH OPÉRA DE RENNES, PALAU DE LES ARTS REINA SOFÍA, VALENCIA

THIS PRODUCTION WAS MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO VINCENT MEYER, GRAND DONATEUR DU FESTIVAL D'AIX-EN-PROVENCE

Théâtre du Jeu de Paume

91214151718202123July

— Opera

OPERA IN ONE PROLOGUE AND THREE ACTS
LIBRETTO BY GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BUSENELLO BASED ON ANNALS BY TACITUS
FIRST PERFORMED IN 1642-1643 AT THE TEATRO GRIMANO (SANTI GIOVANNI E PAOLO) OF VENICE
VENICE VERSION (1650)

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Conductor

Leonardo García Alarcón

Stage director

Ted Huffman*

Stage designer

Johannes Schütz

Stage designer, additional creations

Anna Wörl

Costume designer

Astrid Klein

Lighting designer

Bertrand Couderc

Dramaturgy

Antonio Cuenca Ruiz

Movements Collaborator and maître d'armes

Pim Veulings

Assistant to the Conductor and Language Coach

Fabián Schofrin

Assistant to the Conductor and vocal Coach

Jacopo Raffaele

Pianiste répétiteur

Frédéric Isoletta

Staging Assistant

Maud Morillon

Set Design Assistant

Eleni Arapostathi

Costumes Assistant

Louise Watts

Poppea

Jacquelyn Stucker

Nerone

Jake Arditti

Ottavia / Virtù

Fleur Barron*

Ottone

Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian*

Seneca

Alex Rosen*

Arnalta / Nutrice / Famigliare I

Miles Mykkanen

Fortuna / Drusilla

Maya Kherani

Amore / Valletto

Julie Roset*

Lucano / Soldato I / Famigliare II

Laurence Kilsby

Liberto / Soldato II

Riccardo Romeo

Littore / Famigliare III

Yannis François

Orchestra

Cappella Mediterranea

*Former artists of the Académie

Bad men take as much delight in their shame as good men in noble things.

Sénèque, On Happy Life, 58 A.D.

Under the bloody reign of young emperor Nerone, nothing and no one can stop the rise to the throne of beautiful and immoral Poppea. The most flamboyant Shakespearean dramas as well as the best of today's series pale in comparison of Monteverdi’s last opera when it comes to lucidly portraying the passions of humankind – from bedroom to political arena. The Coronation of Poppea combines sublime and grotesqueness through a portrait gallery of ambivalent protagonists and colourful supporting characters, in a unique freedom of tone and musical inventiveness. Leonardo García Alarcón, who made us rediscover Cavalli's operas (Elena in 2013 and Erismena in 2017), is back with the generous and imaginative musicians of Cappella Mediterranea. They can rely on a sensational team of young singers, some of whom were part of the Festival's Académie. Ted Huffman invites them to a role play that brings to light the mechanisms of human society as an eternal comedy of power and seduction.