How to take the place of the empress of Rome? Poppea, a courtesan and mistress of Emperor Nero, removes every obstacle that stands between her and the throne: she leaves her lover, Otho, the philosopher Seneca commits suicide, Empress Octavia is banished, and finally she achieves her goal, marrying Nero. Through Monteverdi’s music, this triumph of immorality is elevated into a hymn to the power of desire. Monteverdi’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!
Artists
Elsa Benoit Poppea Jake Arditti Nerone Ambroisine Bré Octavia, Virtu Iestyn Davies Ottone Alex Rosen Seneca Stuart Jackson Arnalta, Nudrice Maya Kherani La Fortuna, Drusilla Julie Roset Amore, Valletto Laurence Kilsby Lucano Riccardo Romeo Liberto, Soldatto Yannis François Littore
“If the voices are perfect (Elsa Benoit’s Poppea is spellbinding), what can we say about Leonardo García Alarcón’s direction? This undisputed Monteverdian transforms the score into a character in its own right, with colorful inflections that we haven’t always seen from him. As for Ted Huffman’s minimalist yet rigorous direction, it celebrates what lies at the very heart of the subject – sex and power – eroticizing its actors without hesitation, but with great talent, under the voyeuristic eye of the camera. What a Monteverdi!” – Stéphane Renard
