Commissioned from Cavalli following the marriage of Louis XIV to the Infanta of Spain, Ercole amante benefited from the splendour of the French court. Cavalli thus transformed this tragedy about absolute power into a spectacular production.
After revisiting Antonia Bembo’s Ercole amante at the Opéra Bastille, Leonardo García-Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea are now tackling Francesco Cavalli’s original version, a 17th-century masterpiece premiered at the Louvre in 1662 to mark the wedding of Louis XIV. Combining mythological heroism, passionate love and the splendour of royal festivities, this iconic work reveals the full richness of the Venetian operatic language that the conductor has been exploring since Elena, Eliogabalo, Erismena, Il Giasone and Pompeo Magno. The stage direction by Raphaëlle Boitel and her company L’Oublié(e), blending visual theatre, acrobatics and the poetry of movement, promises a spectacular and sensitive interpretation.
A tragedy in five acts with music by Francesco Cavalli and a libretto by Francesco Buti, inspired by Sophocles’ The Trachiniae and Book IX of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, premiered in 1662 in Paris in the Salle des Machines at the Tuileries Palace.
Performance running time: 3 hours with intermission
New production by the Opéra de Dijon
Co-production with Cappella Mediterranea
Leonardo García‑Alarcón | Musical Direction
Raphaëlle Boitel | Stage Direction and Choreography
Tristan Baudoin | Set Design and Lighting
Sandrine Rozier | Costumes
Milan Siljanov | Ercole
Ana Vieira Leite | Iole
Solenn Lavanant-Linke | Dejanira
Mariana Flores | Giunone
Sophie Junker | Venere, Bellezza
Luigi Morassi | Hyllo
Logan Lopez Gonzalez | Paggio
Marcel Beekman | Licco
Maud Bessard-Morandas | Pasithea
Staffan Liljas | Nettuno, L’Ombra di Eutyro
Cappella Mediterranea
Chœur de chambre de Namur
Chœur de l’Opéra de Dijon
Thibaut Lenaerts & Anass Ismat | Choirmasters
Featuring 8 acrobatic dancers
