Details of the 2025 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music have been made public. For the purposes of this article only vocal performances are featured. Concerts First Prize winner of the 2020 Cesti International Singing Competition Margherita Maria Sala performs works by Galuppi, Marcello, Vivaldi, Ristori, and Handel. Sala is accompanied by the Ensemble Locatelli led by Thomas Chigioni. Performance Date: {…}
(Photo: Ilenia Brunelli) This summer’s Ravenna Festival saw the premiere of Danilo Comitini and Francesca Masi’s opera “Dilexi”, based on the life of the Roman Empress Galla Placidia. A success in its own right, the opera also showcased the talents of the young soprano Laura Zecchini, who is still completing her master’s degree at the Cesena Conservatory. Notwithstanding her limited {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) Christoph Graupner was a prolific German composer and harpsichordist from the late 17th and 18th centuries. Born near to the German city of Zwickau in 1683, he decided to study law in Leipzig before changing to follow a career in music. By 1705, he found himself working at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg as a harpsichordist {…}
(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 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 {…}
(Photo: ©Mona_Wibmer) Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s “Musica Hispanica” was an enriching evening of extraordinary compositions that resonated well with Innsbruck’s Jesuit Church (est. 1562). The church is considered one of Innsbruck’s earliest examples of Baroque architecture. Though it collapsed in 1626, shortly after its construction (1619-1622), “the misfortune turned out to be a blessing, because the church was now planned {…}
(Photo: ©pissarek) Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s “Händel & Greber” program featured works that compliment and celebrate works by both composers in tandem with musical ideas that resonate across space and time. The evening included soprano Silvia Frigato and mezzo-soprano Mathilde Ortscheidt. Ortscheidt is the recipient of the first prize at last year’s “Pietro Antonio Cesti” Baroque Opera Competition in {…}
Programming for the 2024 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has been announced. This article only features vocal performances. First up is a workshop for the upcoming performances of Giacomelli’s “Cesare in Egitto.” Soloists include Arianna Vendittelli, Emőke Barath, Filippo Mineccia, Margherita Maria Sala, Valerio Contaldo, and Federico Fiorio. Ottavio Dantone conducts the Accademia Bizantina. Performance Date: July 27, 2024 (Tyrolean {…}
© Die Fotografen French mezzo-soprano Mathilde Ortscheidt has been named the winner of Innsbruck Festival of Early Music’s 14th Cesti Competition. Ortscheidt wowed the jury with arias “Dille, che nel mio seno serbo” from “Arianna in Creta” by Georg Friedrich Handel and “Ferri, ceppi, sangue, morte” from the opera “L’incoronazione di Dario” by Antonio Vivaldi. British soprano Charlotte Bowden came {…}
The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music has announced its 2021 season, which includes over 50 events between July 13 through August 29, 2021. For the purposes of this article, our focus will be solely on vocal and operatic performances. Operas It all starts with Pasquini’s “Idalma.” The showcase will star Arianna Vendittelli, Anita Rosati, Margherita Maria Sala, Rupert Charlesworth, Juan {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) In 1589, the Medici, Grand Duke Ferdinando married Christine of Lorraine in Florence in a lavish celebration, which was described as the most magnificent entertainment ever seen in the city. It was an event of rich splendor, aimed at projecting the power of the Medici and of Florence itself. At its center was the comedy, “La Pellegrina,” {…}