FULL L’Incoronazione di Poppea Versailles 2023 Elsa Benoit, Jake Arditti, Ambroisine Bré, Iestyn Davies
STREAM IT from medicitv
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: L'incoronazione di Poppea
- Composer: Monteverdi Claudio
- Libretto: Giovanni Francesco Busenello Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Opera Royal de Versailles, France
- Recorded: January 2023
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Elsa Benoit, Jake Arditti, Ambroisine Bré, Iestyn Davies, Alex Rosen, Stuart Jackson, Maya Kherani, Julie Roset, Laurence Kilsby
- Conductor: Leonardo García Alarcón
- Orchestra: Cappella Mediterranea
- Stage Director: Ted Huffman
- Stage Designer: Johannes Schütz
- Costume Designer: Astrid Klein
- Lighting Designer: Bertrand Couderc
Information about the Recording
- Published by: medici.tv
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: medici.tv FULL VIDEO
-
STREAM IT from medicitv
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Quote from medici.tv
Whispers on the wind among the stone columns, daggers hidden in the folds of togas, a marble pattern stained with blood… What better place to stage Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea than the Palace of Versailles itself?
Under the direction of the remarkable Leonardo García Alarcón and Ted Huffman, this historical drama with a libretto by Busenello comes to life with striking relevance. The plot narrates the social climbing exploits of Poppea, a mistress of Nero who becomes his wife—and thus the Empress. Her enemies? Put to the sword… Such is the fate of Seneca (flawlessly performed by Alex Rosen), Stoic philosopher and a one-time teacher of Nero, who chooses to die rather than live under enemy rule. While the composer’s historical source, Tacitus, favors a dark depiction of Poppea, Monteverdi’s character emerges in a more ambivalent light, as she is also capable of great love. Elsa Benoit’s refined interpretation helps the public appreciate the character’s complexities, strengths, and ambiguities.
Besides, as the allegorical prologue of the opera says, it is neither Virtue nor Fortune that drives the history of humankind—it is Love itself, as L’incoronazione di Poppea amply demonstrates!