From Vienna to Adelaide, from Bruges to Bremen, the baroque scene has offered a rich mosaic of events in recent days: the ensemble Pygmalion in Australia, the Farinelli gala in Karlsruhe, Gassmann’s L’Opera seria in Vienna… A pictorial look back at the highlights of the week. 
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In Vienna, L’Opera seria with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques
At the beginning of March, the Theater an der Wien revived L’Opera seria by the composer Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729–1774), in a staging by Laurent Pelly, with Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset. The production had been created at La Scala in Milan in 2025. The plot is surprising: a theatre director wants to create an opera in his theatre but finds himself grappling with the librettist, the composer, the singers, the ballet master, the copyist and the singers’ mothers. The result is a fantasia which today stands as a genuine documentary on how an eighteenth-century opera came into being.
With Pietro Spagnoli, Roberto de Candia, Petr Nekoranec, Josh Lovell, Julie Fuchs, Andrea Carroll, Les Talens Lyriques and Chrisrtophe Rousset.
In Adelaide (Australia), 3x Raphaël Pichon and Pygmalion
Raphaël Pichon and his ensemble Pygmalion gave three performances of different works at the Adelaide Festival in Australia. After Gute Nacht, Welt and Johann Sebastian Bach at the Town Hall, they presented Monteverdi’s Vespers at St Peter’s Cathedral (photo) before returning to Adelaide Town Hall for the forgotten masterpiece Orfeo by Luigi Rossi. Australian critics commented: “A life-altering experience for anyone present, the long-awaited Australian debut of Pygmalion under Raphaël Pichon is a music-making miracle.”
With Pygmalion and Raphaël Pichon.
In Karlsruhe, the Farinelli gala at the Händelfestspiele
At the Karlsruhe Händelfestspiele, the Farinelli gala for countertenors played to a full house. With Denis Orellana, Lidor Ram Mesika, Bruno de Sá, Rémy Brès-Feuillet and Lawrence Zazzo. The Karlsruher Barockorchester was conducted by Luca Quintavalle.
With Denis Orellana, Lidor Ram Mesika, Bruno de Sá, Rémy Brès-Feuillet et Lawrence Zazzo, le Karlsruher Barockorchester and Luca Quintavalle.
In Bruges, a tête-à-tête between Anna Besson and Reinoud Van Mechelen
As part of the Concertgebouw Bruges series “Tête à tête”, the flautist Anna Besson and the tenor Reinoud Van Mechelen, partners in life as on stage, presented a programme shaped around their shared musical affinity: a journey from Guillaume de Machaut to Irish folk traditions.
With Anna Besson and Reinoud Van Mechelen.
In Strasbourg, the 25th anniversary of La Chapelle Rhénane
In Strasbourg, ahead of the Mars en baroque festival in Marseille, the ensemble La Chapelle Rhénane, conducted by Benoît Haller, celebrated its 25th anniversary with the concert Bach in Leipzig in 1726. The programme was not simply a juxtaposition of works but a demonstration of the composer’s exegetical power, an immersion in the year 1726, a decisive moment in his sacred output. At that time Bach had been in Leipzig for three years and his mastery of the cantata form had reached a point of no return in terms of architectural complexity and spiritual intensity.
With La Chapelle Rhénane and Benoît Haller.
In Bremen (Germany), Bach and Telemann with the Bremer Barockorchester
At the Unser Lieben Frauen Kirche, under the direction of Néstor Fabián Cortés Garzón, the Bremen Baroque Orchestra brought together the distinct and highly contrasted sound worlds of Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann, meeting on equal footing and placed in a moving and fertile dialogue that reflects the musical history of eighteenth-century Europe.
With the Bremer Barockorchester and Néstor Fabián Cortés Garzón.
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