This week, Europe’s festival season celebrated early music, from Vache Baroque to Bayreuth, Milan, Viterbo and Utrecht, spanning baroque opera, sacred polyphony and innovative productions. 
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Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno at Bayreuth Baroque
The Bayreuth Baroque Festival opened at the Margravial Opera House with a performance of Francesco Cavalli’s Pompeo Magno. Stage director Max Emanuel Cenčić remained faithful to the spirit of Cavalli’s Venetian music theatre, combining Commedia dell’arte masks, cross-dressing and dwarfs. Musical direction was by Leonardo García-Alarcón, with lighting by Léo Petrequin, set design by Helmut Stürmer, costumes by Corina Gramosteanu, and dramaturgy by Max Emanuel Cenčić and Fabián Schofrin. The production was praised by Oper Magazin as a rare experience, offering audiences complete immersion in the baroque world.
With Max Emanuel Cenčić, Mariana Flores, Valerio Contaldo, Alois Mühlbacher, Nicolò Balducci, Sophie Junker, Victor Sicard, Nicholas Scott, Valer Sabadus, Jorge Navarro Colorado, Dominique Visse, Kacper Szelążek and Marcel Beekman, with the Cappella Mediterranea and the Bayreuth Baroque Festival Choir.
Campra at the Vache Baroque Festival (UK)
This year’s Vache Baroque Festival staged four performances of André Campra’s Carnaval de Venise as a “circus-opera”. Musical direction came from Jonathan Darbourne, with staging by James Hurley, blending baroque spirit with the world of circus. Circus acts by Shane Hampden and Hannah Finn brought a unique visual dimension to this baroque production.
With Katie Bray, Julieth Lozano, Tristan Hambleton, Themba Mvula, Giuseppe Pellingra, Eleanor Broomfield and Feargal Mostyn-Williams.
The Tallis Scholars at Milano Arte Musica
An exceptional closing night at Milano Arte Musica, the city’s early music festival, in the Basilica of Santa Maria della Passione. The Tallis Scholars brought together two masters of sacred music separated by five centuries: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and the contemporary Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, united by the purity and spiritual depth of their works. The concert also marked the 500th anniversary of Palestrina, the leading figure of the Roman polyphonic school of the Renaissance.
With The Tallis Scholars.
1,000 Musicians at the Utrecht Festival
Le Poème Harmonique, under the direction of Vincent Dumestre, closed the Utrecht Festival with a concert performance of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Over its ten days, the festival once again brought together more than 1,000 musicians for 250 concerts. Among the highlights was the original initiative of the Early Music Breakfast Shows, hosted by Jorge Losana of Ensemble Cantoría, who also gave three concerts.
With Le Poème Harmonique conducted by Vincent Dumestre, the Ensemble Sollazzo and the Ensemble Cantoría.
The Stradella Festival in Viterbo (Italy)
Silvia Frigato and Ensemble Mare Nostrum, directed by André de Carlo, opened the Stradella Festival in Viterbo with their programme Un ange au paradis, based on the Livre de chant by Orrigoni. The programme, also recorded on CD, has been nominated for the 2025 Gramophone Awards in the “Voice & Ensemble Award” category.
With Silvia Frigatio and the Ensemble Mare Nostrum, conducted by André de Carlo.
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