Cavalli's Elena
Jean-Yves Ruf (stage director), Leonardo García Alarcón (conductor) – With Emőke Baráth (Elena, Venere), Valer Barna-Sabadus (Menelao), Fernando Guimaraes (Teseo)
Cast
Leonardo García Alarcón — Music director
Jean-Yves Ruf — Stage director
Laure Pichat — Set designer
Claudia Jenatsch — Costumes designer
Program notes
Elena at the prestigious Aix-en-Provence Festival: Cavalli's opera staged for the first time in 350 years!
Francesco Cavalli and the librettist-impresario Giovanni Faustini's collaboration gave birth to 10 operas. When he died in 1651, Faustini left several unfinished libretti, among which the opera Elena. Niccolo Minato completed it and a few years later, in 1659, the opera was premiered in Venice. Since then and in spite of its great success, the opera had never been performed anymore... until 2013! The Aix-en-Provence Festival brought back this masterpiece to life with a brand new staging by Jean-Yves Ruf.
The opera is a mythological drama which tells the story of Helen, whose stunning beauty caused passionate troubles...
Picture: Elena, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2013 © Pascal Victor/ArtcomArt.
This program was initially broadcast live from the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence on medici.tv on the 11th of July 2013.
