Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1676 masterpiece, nicknamed ‘the King’s opera’ because it was so dear to Louis XIV, Atys established a new operatic tradition in France and marked the history of opera well into the 19th century. In 2022, Leonardo García-Alarcón teamed up with choreographer Angelin Preljocaj to stage this lyrical tragedy in a production full of poetry, premiered at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and recorded at the Opéra Royal de Versailles in 2022. Then recorded in 2023 at the Grand Manège in Namur, it now appears in a double CD/DVD box set on the Château de Versailles Spectacles label.
AlbumLeonardo García Alarcón presents and contrasts two monumental works: a Missa Concertata by the choirmaster of the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna and the famous Dixit Dominus composed by Georg Friedrich Handel in Rome in 1707. A fascinating comparison between a first recording of a forgotten masterpiece and a new interpretation of one of the most brilliant works by the young Handel, dazzled as he was by his discovery of the Italian Baroque.
AlbumThe Regent was also… a composer! And a talented one, as evidenced by this Suite d’Armide, based on Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, recorded in its complete version for the first time.
AlbumLove, drama and betrayal under the Sicilian sun: this ‘pasticcio’ of folk melodies and music by ‘learned’ composers was born of the love of Leonardo García Alarcón and the singers and musicians of the Cappella Mediterranea for Calabrian, Sicilian and Neapolitan songs dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
AlbumMonteverdi’s last opera is also the first masterpiece of the genre, extraordinarily and enduringly modern. Here, it is filmed at the Opéra Royal de Versailles, with a young and committed cast, guided through a mafia-baroque world by director Ted Huffman and the sensational Leonardo García Alarcón!
DVDMariana Flores and Quito Gato guide us in this sweet, lighthearted exploration of popular South American songs. Thanks to the powerful synergy between these two musicians, the audience is invited to daydream and discover a whole new palette of emotions that are at once contradictory and magnificent.
AlbumLeonardo García Alarcón and his Cappella Mediterranea bring Sacrati’s opera back to life. Discover this opera that was the first to be performed in Paris and gave young Louis XIV a taste for dancing!
AlbumWe thought it would be interesting to compare Bach’s early works (he was an excellent violinist himself) with the works of his precursors to observe this earlier universe and see how music evolved up until Bach. – Chouchane Siranossian
AlbumLeonardo García Alarcón proposes a thoughtful and highly theatrical approach to Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607). He customises each moment with a variety of colours and textures.
AlbumIn this new programme, Leonardo García Alarcón invites us to discover the accompanied monodies, arias and madrigals for one or two voices by Sigismondo d’India, a late-Renaissance and early-Baroque Italian composer, carried by the sublime voices of Mariana Flores and Julie Roset.
AlbumIn this recital, Sonya Yoncheva is accompanied by Leonardo García Alarcón’s ensemble, Cappella Mediterranea. The programme features both well-known and lesser-known composers, including Monteverdi, Francesco Cavalli, Barbara Strozzi, John Dowland and Alessandro Stradella. In addition to arias, she also presents a cover of an Abba song and a Bulgarian melody that pays tribute to her native country.” – Jean-Michel Dhuez
AlbumThe myth of Prometheus is a universal symbol of artistic creation and human intelligence. Draghi’s score is ravishing.
AlbumTo celebrate the Chœur de Namur’s 30th anniversary, we focused on a ‘national’ composer. Jacques Arcadelt’s rich, complex and mysterious personality gradually emerged before us with the help of Leonardo García Alarcón, our artistic director, and Jérôme Lejeune…
AlbumJoan Manuel Serrat’s compositions are an integral part of Spanish and South American culture. “Mediterráneo”, for example, was voted Song of the Century in Spain. In this album, Leonardo García Alarcón immerses himself in the poetic texts that Serrat set to music and juxtaposes them with pieces from the Golden Age.
AlbumAlthough Lully never held an official position in the King’s chapel, he had a decisive role in the development of the grand motet, an emblem of the Grand Siècle. He composed ceremonial motets for the court that celebrated the glory of God and that of the king. His Dies irae and De profundis were performed at Queen Maria Theresa’s grandiose royal funeral in 1683. However, his most famous motet is Te Deum, a favourite of the king’s.
AlbumAfter the resounding success of their Francesco Cavalli album, Cappella Mediterranea presents a programme dedicated to the a voce sola works of Claudio Monteverdi, from the famous Lamento d’Ariana to the sublime (and less well-known) Voglio da vita uscir. Mariana Flores embodies the most moving characters in this repertoire.
AlbumIl Giasone, Dramma musicale, en un prologue et 3 actes créé le 5 janvier 1649, alterne tragique et bouffonnerie sans rester fidèle à la légende mythologique de Jason et Médée, dirigé par celui qui est devenu le grand ambassadeur de la musique de Cavalli, Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.
DVDIn this version, Leonardo García Alarcón incorporates three meditations for choir that come from Scarlatti’s little-known polyphonic responsories for Holy Week.
AlbumFive singers gather around a small organ in tense competition, their breaths held as their voices descend in extraordinarily rugged chromaticisms. The gesture of the conductor behind his instrument slows down time, stretches notes and weaves invisible threads between the voices. 24 heures – reportage on the work’s creation
AlbumCipriano de Rore, Ancor Che col partire Ricerar is celebrating its 35th anniversary in a highly original way with a tribute to the most brilliant Flemish Renaissance composers! The works of Cipriano de Rore (1515/16- 1565) continued to be performed long after his death. Dozens of embellished versions of his madrigals were performed up to the beginning of the 17th century. His success was truly exceptional.
AlbumIn this programme, Leonardo García Alarcón remains faithful to Venetian instrumentation. He submits to the vigour and intimacy of a music that is devoid of the stylistic clumsiness and conventions that would define opera after Cavalli’s death.
AlbumThe Vespro della Beata Vergine is an audacious medley of colours and styles, a testament to the genius of Monteverdi, who inspired the whole of Europe. Remaining faithful to the shades and intensity of his work, Leonardo García Alarcón, infuses the vespers with vitality, fervour and grace.
AlbumGioseffo Zamponi’s Ulisse all’isola di Circe was the first opera to be performed in Southern Netherlands. It premiered in Brussels on 24 February 1650 in honour of Philip IV of Spain’s marriage to Maria-Anna of Austria. It is written in the new style of Venetian operas with highly distinctive characters and a language that combines recitar cantado with arias, alternating between theatricality and episodes of great emotion. The opera enthralled all the artists who took part in its resurrection. This production reunites all three ensembles led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
AlbumWhen you listen to Falvetti’s Nabucco, you’ll discover a brilliant baroque oratorio with Mediterranean inspirations. Under the baton of Leonardo García Alarcón, Cappella Mediterranea and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur strike the perfect balance between instrumental passages and arias in a recording that is replete with joy and vigour.
AlbumWhen this production of Cavalli’s Elena was recorded at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in July 2013, the opera had not been performed for over 350 years. The international press hailed this rediscovery as a major event in opera history. It brings together the imaginative staging of Jean-Yves Ruf, an exceptional cast of young singers united by the Académie du Festival Aixois, the talented musicians of Cappella Mediterranea and the theatrical flair of conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcón.
DVDCarmina Latina is made up of Spanish and South American works from the 16th and 17th centuries. It is as much a journey back in time as a skillful blend of Baroque mysticism, exotic fervour and contemporary energy.
AlbumThe programme featured in this album is built upon the dreams of Monteverdi, Cavalli, Rossi and Provenzale, four of Italy’s greatest opera composers in the seventeenth century. It marks Anne Sofie von Otter’s return to Baroque repertoire, which she already immortalised fifteen years ago in an album produced with Archiv Produktion, in collaboration with Musica Antiqua Köln.
AlbumThe madrigal and the tango are musical twin souls that conjure up nostalgia, pain and ecstasy. In a bold move, the remarkable artists of Cappella Mediterranea bring together Monteverdi and Piazzolla, transporting us to a distant dreamland with their gift for improvisation.
AlbumThe music of Giovanni Giorgi and his contemporaries allows us to unearth the treasures of the Roman chapels and better understand the history of contrapuntal writing in eighteenth-century Rome.
AlbumForgotten for three centuries, Falvetti’s Il Diluvio universale is a work of unparallelled originality. This first-ever recording of this masterpiece conjures up the Sicilian Baroque imagining of Noah’s Ark. The powerful choirs and dazzling soloists are led by Leonardo García Alarcón.
AlbumLeonardo García Alarcón returns to Ambronay Éditions with this recording of Dido and Æneas, accompanied by a cast of gifted young singers bursting with vitality. His interpretation focuses on the links between England and Spain, as Carthage lurks behind Purcell’s innovations and Monteverdi’s revolution.
AlbumIn this new album devoted to Mateo Romero’s secular compositions, Cappella Mediterranea continues Fuga Libera’s survey of the Belgian-born Spanish composer’s work. When you listen to these arias for three and four voices, you can not only detect the influence of Iberian music, but also the Italian madrigal, Franco-Flemish polyphony, and all that heralds the birth of opera.
AlbumBarbara Strozzi was not only a virtuosic singer but also a talented composer. Following in the footsteps of Monteverdi, her vocal compositions display an array of different styles through which she expresses the intensity of human emotion.
AlbumPeter Philips was celebrated throughout Europe as the greatest English composer of his time, and yet his work has been forgotten today. Philips drew upon a variety of traditions to create music that astonishes us with its expressiveness. This new album from Cappella Mediterranea transforms silence into consonance, consonance into emotion, emotion into colour, and colour into poetry.
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