Christina Pluhar conducts Biber, Händel, and Monteverdi — With Malena Ernman

Terra Mater, presented at the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, brings Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L'Arpeggiata together with mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman for a musical journey devoted to the natural world, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Baroque composers. The program alternates between arias, instrumental works, and traditional songs evoking landscapes, the elements, and living creatures, with an uninhibited approach that blends interpretation, improvisation, and accents of folk and jazz.

Throughout the concert, Ernman's expressive, theatrical voice plays off the ensemble's sparkling timbre, bringing out sounds of storms, birdsong, and pastoral scenes as the artists pass between moments of contemplation, virtuosity, and wit. This deeply felt meditation on the beauty and fragility of the world is held aloft by Pluhar's collaborative spirit and musical imagination, resulting in a performance that serves as both a poetic celebration and a contemporary reflection…