Cavalli in Cremona and Aix-en-Provence, Palestrina in Basel, Handel at the cinema in Paris, and the EEEmerging Academy in Portugal: welcome to the summer of early music! 
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Cavalli’s Ercole Amante closes the festival in Cremona
The 42nd edition of the Monteverdi Festival in Cremona came to a close on June 29 with a performance of Francesco Cavalli’s Ercole Amante (1662). The opera was performed at the Ponchielli Theater in Cremona by the Monteverdi Cremona Antiqua Festival Orchestra and Choir, conducted by Antonio Greco and directed by Andrea Bernard. Bernard created a modern and playful set design, with a second stage in the background depicting a small Baroque theater, from which the gods appear with their supernatural interventions.
With Renato Dolcini, Paola Valentina Molinari, Hilary Aeschliman, Theodora Raftis, Jorge Navarro Colorado, Shakèd Bar, Federico Domenico Eraldo Sacchi, Chiara Nicastro, Danilo Pastore, Maximiliano Danta, Matteo Straffi, Arrigo Liverani Minzoni, Benedetta Zanotto, Giorgia Sorichetti, Isabella Di Pietro, l’Orchestre et le Chœur Cremona Antiqua and Antonio Greco.
Re-renaissance celebrates Palestrina in Basel
The Re-renaissance association in Basel celebrated the arrival of summer with a concert entitled “Love, Fortune”: Madrigals for the 500th anniversary of Palestrina in the beautiful Barfüsserkirche in Basel.
With Johannes Frisch, Giovanna Bavaria, Rui Stähelin, Elam Rotem and Ivo Haun.
La Calisto at the Aix-en-Provence Festival
Francesco Cavalli’s opera La Calisto premiered on Monday, 7 July at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence. Jetske Mijnssen’s production brings to life the metamorphosis of the beautiful and unfortunate nymph into a bear, then into a constellation. The musical direction is by Sébastien Daucé and his Ensemble Correspondances. The French conductor offers a dazzling version of this Venetian opera gem, with an orchestration specially designed for this production.
With Lauranne Oliva, Alex Rosen, Giuseppina Bridelli, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Zachary Wilder, David Portillo, Dominic Sedgwick, Théo Imart, Jetske Mijnssen, the Ensemble Correspondances and Sébastien Daucé.
Ariodante at the cinema in Paris
Handel’s opera Ariodante was performed to a packed house at the Grand Rex cinema in Paris, with more than 2,800 people gathering for the premiere of the film, which is the result of a collaboration between Les Arts Florissants, the Philharmonie de Paris and Amazing Digital Studios. This project breaks down the boundaries between stage and screen, concert and cinema, and classical music and immediate emotion. The Les Arts Florissants team commented: “Laughter, silence, tears and applause formed an unexpected chorus, confirming that baroque is not a fixed style, but a free spirit in motion. It is a spirit that Les Arts Florissants has never ceased to embody.”
With Ana Vieira Leite, Léa Desandre, Ana Maria Labin, Hugh Cutting, Renato Dolcini, Nicolas Briançon, Frédéric Savoir, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants.
The Eeemerging Academy in Espinho (Portugal)
The 20 young musicians of the Emerging Academy – Ambronay Festival stopped at the Festival Internacional de Música de Espinho in Portugal after performing at the Festival de Torroella de Montgrí in Spain and before giving concerts in France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Led by violinist Amandine Beyer, the programme features timeless pieces by Vivaldi alongside lesser-known masterpieces by composers such as Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco and Johann Adolph Hasse. The project also serves as a bridge between training and professionalisation, building on the legacy of an academy that has nurtured generations of musicians for more than 30 years.
With Amandine Beyer.
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