Celebrating the First Opera in Lithuania
Claudio Monteverdi (1567–1643)
L’Orfeo
Libretto by Alessandro Striggio the Younger (c. 1573–1630)
Music director: Darius Stabinskas
Director: Vaidotas Martinaitis
Choreography:Jūratė Širvytė-Rukštelė and Jekaterina Deineko
Choir and Consort Brevis (Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, Norway, France)
Directors: Gintautas Venislovas and Darius Stabinskas
Roles and soloists:
Orfeo: Stein Skjervold, baritone (Norway)
Euridice: Edita Bagdonaitė-Venislovienė, soprano
La Musica, Speranza: Rūta Vosyliūtė, soprano
Messaggiera: Nora Petročenko, soprano
Ninfa, Proserpina: Ieva Gaidamavičiūtė-Barkauskė, soprano
Pastore, Apollo: Mario Cecchetti, tenor (Italy)
Pastore: Mindaugas Jankauskas, tenor
Pastore: Radosław Pachołek, contratenor (Poland)
Caronte: Nerijus Masevičius, bass
Plutone: Artūras Miknaitis, bass
ninfe, pastori, spiriti infernali: Choir Brevis
Consort Brevis:
Pavel Amilcar – violin (Spain), Ūla Kinderytė – violin (Lithuania / UK), Rodrigo Calveyra – cornetto, recorders (Brasil / France), Tomasz Dobrzański – recorders (Poland), Marian Magiera – cornetto (Poland), Mateusz Kowalski – viola da gamba (Poland), Darius Stabinskas – viola da gamba (Lithuania), Maciej Kazinski – violone (Poland), Diana Fazzini – lirone (Italy), Michele Carreca – theorbo, baroque guitar (Italy), Frank Pschichholz – theorbo, baroque guitar (Germany), Flora Papadopoulos – baroque harp (Italy), Marco Vitale – harpsichord, organ (Italy)
Dancers: Ieva Beleckaitė, Kristina Zvilnaitė, Andrius Butkys, Edmundas Žička
laudio 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 work will be performed by experienced early music artists from Lithuania, Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway.
Tickets: €7, €11, €14, €16
Tickets are available at „Bilietai LT“ and Museum's Box Offices and online at www.bilietai.lt.
This project is presented by the National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania and Concert Institution "Banchetto musicale".
The project is partly financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Lithuanian Ministry of Culture.