Toronto Summer Music kicks off on July 10 with Cappella Mediterranea and their interpretation of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea. The ensemble, including 11 vocal soloists, chorus, and a chamber group of 10 musicians, will bring the story of one of antiquity’s intriguing figures to life.
Cappella Mediterranea is led by Swiss-Argentine conductor Leonardo García-Alarcón, who founded the ensemble in 2005.
Here’s a closer look at the artists and the work.
Leonardo García-Alarcón
Born in Argentina in 1976, Leonardo García-Alarcón moved to Europe in 1997. There, he studied music theory at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva, and studied harpsichord performance at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève. He went on to study harpsichord and organ with noted Baroque specialist Gabriel Garrido for several years. Like Garrido, García-Alarcón’s music practice includes a focus on the Italian Baroque, and the music of Latin America of that era.
García-Alarcón has been awarded the médaille de citoyen d’honneur d’Ambronay. He teaches at the Geneva Conservatoire and at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, and continues his research into 17th century basso continuo performance.
He has performed at prominent venues worldwide, including the Montpellier, Lyon, Nantes, Lille Operas, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Wigmore Hall in London, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and Carnegie Hall in NYC, among others.
Cappella Mediterranea
García-Alarcón created Cappella Mediterranea in 2005 with a focus on the music of the Mediterranean region. In the ensuing decades, the ensemble’s repertoire has enlarged to include madrigals, polyphonic motets, and operas.
García-Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea have been noted for their recovery of forgotten and unknown works, as well as imaginative staging and interpretation of familiar music. The company performed the first Cavalli work at the National Opera of Paris, and have performed unpublished works such as Draghi’s El Prometeo or Francesco Sacrati’s La finta pazza.
Cappella Mediterranea have recorded more than 30 titles on the Ricercar, Naïve, Ambronay Editions and Alpha Classics labels.
The Opera
L’Incoronazione di Poppea was Monteverdi’s last opera, and it broke new ground in more than one way. It was one of the first operas in Western music history to use actual historical events and people as its inspiration.
The libretto was written by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, a noted poet who wrote the libretto for several Venetian operas by Monteverdi and Cavalli.
The title character, Poppea, is the ambitious courtesan to the Roman Emperor Nero (Nerone in the opera). The opera follows her scheming — and its consequences — on her rise to become crowned Empress of Rome.
The opera has also been noted for a take on morality that’s unusual for works of the era, where the adulterous pair of Nerone and Poppea get what they want without the usual operatic consequences for bad behaviour. With its themes of raw ambition and naked self interest, and the power of sexual attraction, the story as written by Busenello is also shot through with wit and humour.
The opera premiered in 1643 in Venice, and enjoyed a few years of popularity before falling into neglect. The score was rediscovered in 1888, leading to its revival and continued popularity into the 21st century.
- Find tickets and other information about the July 10 performance [HERE].
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