Organization

Festival della Valle d'Itria

Singer

Countertenor

Teresa Iervolino

Rinaldo

Soprano

Loriana Castellano

Almirena

Carmela Remigio

Armida

Bass

Francesca Ascioti

Argante

Tenor

Francisco Fernández-Rueda

Goffredo

Dara Savinova

Eustazio

Simone Tangolo

Nesso

Valentina Cardinali

A woman

Silent

Kim-Lillian Strebel

A spirit

Victória Pitts

Christian magician

Dielli Hoxha

A herald

Conductor

Fabio Luisi

Stage director

Giorgio Sangati

Set designer

Alberto Nonnato

Costume designer

Gianluca Sbicca

Lighting designer

Paolo Pollo Rodighiero

Orchestra

La Scintilla

Martina Franca

Italy

Palazzo Ducale

Rinaldo by G. F. Handel/L. Leo, from Festival della Valle d'Itria, performed at Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, 2019. Directed by Giorgio Sangati, conductor Fabio Luisi, starring Carmela Remigio, Francesca Ascioti, Valentina Cardinali,Dara Savinova, Teresa Iervolino, Francisco Fernández-Rueda, Loriana Castellano, Simone Tangolo, Dielli Hoxha, Ana Victória Pitts, Kim. Performed in Italian and subtitled in English, German, French, Italian and Korean.

For the first time in modern times, Festival della Valle d'Itria stages the Neapolitan version of Händel's Rinaldo, a pastiche with a Mediterranean allure which Leonardo Leo assembled in 1718 and which was considered lost until a few years ago. The story behind this most rare opera is captivating: the score of Händel’s masterpiece was illegally brought to Naples by the castrato singer Nicolò Grimaldi, who first interpreted Rinaldo in London. Once in Italy, the work was rehashed by Leo as well as other local composers, who adapted it to the taste of the local Neapolitan public, adding some intermezzos and amusing characters.

 

Director Giorgio Sangati turns this work into a “ba-rock” opera set in the 1980’s, where the struggle between Christians and Turks becomes a battle between pop-rock singers (the Christians) and dark-metal ones (the Turks). These two factions represent two opposite perspectives on love and life.

 

Conductor Fabio Luisi is at the head of the baroque Ensemble La Scintilla, a group of specialists in the baroque repertoire.

Rinaldo by Händel, From (2018/2018), Directed by Giorgio Sangati,, Conductor Fabio Luisi, Palazzo Ducale, Martina Franca, Italy

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