Saturday 27 August 2016   6:30 pm

Monteverdi: The Coronation of Poppea

Monteverdi The Coronation of Poppea (1643)
libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello
performing edition by Peter Holman
concert performance sung in Italian
  • Poppea: Philippa Hyde soprano
  • Nerone: Claire Coleman soprano
  • Ottavia: Kate Semmens soprano
  • Drusilla: Emma Bishton soprano
  • Ottone: Nicholas Sales tenor
  • Arnalta: Daniel Norman tenor
  • Seneca: Giles Davies bass
  • The John Jenkins Consort
  • directed by Peter Holman

We begin The Monteverdi Project, our extended cycle of performances of Monteverdi’s major works, with his last masterpiece, written and performed in the final year of his life.  Busenello’s libretto for The Coronation of Poppea is a compelling and surprisingly modern tale of love, betrayal and power politics in the Rome of the emperor Nero. Monteverdi’s superb music, continually slipping between speech-like recitative and lyrical arias, confronts us with the human predicament through the emotions and actions of his all-too-fallible protagonists.

The large cast brings together regular SVF soloists, including Philippa Hyde, Claire Coleman (Tomlin), Emma Bishton and Giles Davies, with distinguished visitors Nicholas Sales and Daniel Norman, well known for their appearances with Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, Opera North, Covent Garden and other companies here and abroad.

Tickets £20 (reserved), £14 (unreserved)
Half-price tickets available to full-time students

The concert is due to end at 9.30pm