(Photo credit: © Wibmer) The Pietro Antonio Cesti Competition is a major annual highlight in the world of baroque opera that takes place at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, featuring young baroque singers from all over the world. This year’s competition was full of exciting and inspiring moments that OperaWire had the honor of experiencing live. The audience {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) One of the more interesting events at Innsbruck’s Early Music Festival is its Oper Jung production, cast with singers who took part in the previous year’s Cesti Competition and who, therefore, are generally in the early stages of their careers. This summer’s presentation was Händel’s 1734 opera “Arianna in Creta,” which relates Theseus’s quest to kill the {…}
(Photo credit: Alexander Kofler) OperaWire had the incredible opportunity to attend the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music this summer and learn firsthand about what makes this local community, nestled in the Austrian Alps, inspiring at an international level both artistically and sustainably. Innsbruck, Austria is a place where everything and everyone participates in celebrating Early Music as an art for {…}
The story of how Accademia Bizantina (AB) began seems quite simple. But like all good stories, there is more to it than meets the eye. In 1983 three classmates of the Ravenna Conservatory met for coffee. This initial meeting included Angelo Nicastro, a violist and now director of the Ravenna Festival; Romano Valentini, a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, as well {…}
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has announced that Ottavio Dantone will take over as music director for the next five years. He joins new Artistic Director Eva-Maria Sens in taking over for Alessandro De Marchi, who held the position of Artistic Director from 2010-2023. Additionally, the Accademia Bizantia of Ravenna, Italy will become the “Orchestra in Residence” during those {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) At the final curtain call of the Innsbruck Early Music Festival’s splendid production of Vivaldi’s only surviving oratorio, “Judtha Triumphans,” the loudest acclamation was reserved for its conductor, Alessandro De Marchi. After 13 years as its artistic director, he is stepping down from the position. The genuine warmth the festival audience showed towards De Marchi was clearly {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) After 13 years in the post, Alessandro De Marchi brings his tenure as the artistic director of the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music to a close with a program dominated by the Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi. Not only do many of the festival’s events feature his music, including the festival’s closing concert “Lieto Fine,” but all three {…}
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has announced the program for its 47th season. Running from July 11 to August 29 and featuring 48 events across 14 venues, this season will mark the last under Artistic Director Alessandro de Marchi after 14 years with the festival. Among the highlights are three works by Antonio Vivaldi: Stefano Vizioli directs “Olimpiade,” with a {…}
(Photo: Die Fotografen) The Innsbruck Early Music Festival’s Cesti Competition, now in its 13th year, continues to cement its standing as a prestige international singing competition for baroque specialists. The final, which took place in Innsbruck’s Haus der Musik in front of an enthusiastic audience, consisted of 10 singers from six countries, comprising two countertenors, five sopranos, two tenors and {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) Whenever Silvia Paoli’s name is listed as the director for a forthcoming production, one can be fairly certain that it is not going to disappoint. Over the past few years, OperaWire has reviewed a number of her productions, all of which were not just marvelously entertaining, but also very insightful. She has the not-so-common ability to get {…}
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music announced its plans for a new artistic direction beginning in Sept. 2023. The focus is a structural reformatting to increase the longevity and resilience of the festival. First, the festival plans to implement a three to five-year rotation for its management team. Currently heading the projects are Ottavio Dantone who will act as Musical {…}