IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA

After The Coronation of Poppaea and Orpheus in 2022, the Festival continues a memorable Monteverdi cycle, in the hands of Leonardo García Alarcón and Cappella Mediterranea, with The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland – reenforcing the crucial presence of the composer to our programming. The work is particularly dear to Pierre Audi for whom it was his first production – and indeed of a repertory work – for the Dutch National Opera in 1990: how does he see it thirty years later? A judicious arrangement turns the unwieldy if fascinating plot into a profoundly moving drama, the production concentrating on simplicity and sensuality. A talented cast of young singers gives new life to this material, emphasizing the intimate motion of the music and the mysteriousness of the characters: how to play Penelope’s waiting and Ulysses’s return? The approach is in keeping with the generous manner in which Leonardo García Alarcón treats the music, always highlighting the dance within.