Virgins, Nymphs and Queens

Cremona, 14 May – 4 June 2016

Virgins, Nymps and Queens… a crowd of changing women will throng the 2016 Monteverdi Festival: a prism of womanly baroque affetti, now passionate, now motherly, spiritual, fervent, heavenly, ambitious, languid... Countless are the qualities of the women starring in the many concerts of the Festival, mainly dedicated to Claudio Monteverdi, with an eye on the celebrations of his 450th anniversary in 2017: from the inauguration with tle magnificent Selva morale e

spirituale performed by Modo Antiquo conductd by Federico Maria Sardelli (May 14) to love &death moving duets sung by two marvellous queens of early music, Sonia Prina and Roberta Invernizzi (June 2); from the madrigali guerrieri et amorosi performed by the renown ensemble Les Talens Lyriques (May 22), back in Cremona after a long time, to the elegant and mysterious French noblewomen evoked at the harpsichord by Justin Taylor, winner of the prestigeous Bruges International Competition (May 15). But woman of all women, perfect and holy mother and wife, is the Virgin Mary, celebrated in many of the sacred concerts of the Festival: from the usual performance of the Vespro della Beata

Vergine, assigned this year to Il Canto d’Orfeo directed by Gianluca Capuano (May 27), to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, honoured by Jordi Savall and his Capella Reial de Catalunya (May 21) ; from De Victoria’s Salve Regina and other motets dedicated to the Virgin, interpreted by La Grande Chapelle (May 15), for the first time at the Festival, to a magnificent programme dedicated to Pergolesi’s music performed by Ghislieri Choir & Consort (May 20). We will go back to Spain, in Castile, with the Micrologus (May 29) to admire the Cantigas de miragres e de loor (of miracles and praises), composed during the XIIIth century for Alfonso X ‘el Sabio’. The Tallis Scholars will also depict the Virgin, praised in breathtaking compositions by Josquin, Monteverdi and...Pärt (May 28). During the weekends of May, new horizons of early music (Orizzonti) will be explored and young talents discovered: from the already mentioned Justin Taylor to the north-European ensemble Radio Antiqua, invited in collaboration with the Festival d’Ambronay and featuring XVIIth and XVIIIth century Italian cantatas and sonatas (May 29). Last but not least, the usual crossover concert of the Festival, for an unusual sound experience, this time with the renown and elegant French jazz player Michel Godard (Across, May 19): early music mirrors jazz music, finding a common language, an indissoluble bond... As usual, Monteverdi Festival spreads out during the spring throughout the town, looking for unusual venues: sacred music is performed in the beautiful baroque churches of the town, and secular music concerts are held in cloisters, courts, historical villas, as well as in the beautiful Auditorium Arvedi. Moreover, there are many collateral events enlivening the Festival (Monteverdi OFFicine): meeting the artists, Euridice’s adventurous story told by the fascinating Luca Scarlini (May 26) and a new project of early music masterclasses, held by excellent artists, such as Stefano Montanari, Christoph Rousset, Sonia Prina e Roberta Invernizzi,and dedicated to the performance practice of the baroque violin, the harpsichord and the voice.

Riding the wave of last year’s success, Monteverdi Festival sets sail again, ready for the journey that Monteverdi undertook so many times between Cremona, Mantua and Venice. A new Music Cruise on the waterway connecting the Po river, the Mincio river and the Venetian Lagoon. A boating holiday to discover the region from an usual visual, rhythmed by readings, the placid flowing of water and... women in music (June 3-4).

PROGRAMMA FESTIVAL sabato 14 maggio, ore 21.00 – Chiesa S. Marcellino MODO ANTIQUO Federico Maria Sardelli, direzione

SELVA MORALE E SPIRITUALE di Claudio Monteverdi Concerto di inaugurazione

Selva morale e spirituale represents the full achievement of Monteverdi’s long career as maestro di cappella

at S. Mark and other churches in Venice, where the luxuriant collection was published in 1640 (or 1641) and dedicted to Eleonora Gonzaga, daughter of duke Vincenzo I. Modo Antiquo performs an exuberant and theatrical selection of the most significant liturgical work since the Vespers 1610.

Domenica 15 maggio, ore 11.00 – Palazzo Fodri JUSTIN TAYLOR, clavicembalo

LA TÉNÉBREUSE Musiche di J. S. Bach, F. Couperin, J. D’Anglebert, J. J. Froberger in collaborazione con International Competition Musica Antiqua - MA Festival Bruges Orizzonti

As in a historical film on the France of Sun King or in a novel written by Benedetta Craveri, Justin Taylor – winner of the 2015 Bruges Competition – traces the elegant sonorities of a French gallery among dances, tombeau and toccatas. Notes of grace and poetry, pleasures and mystery, whispered on the keyboard in a fascinating palace...

Domenica 15 maggio, ore 18.00 – Chiesa S. Omobono LA GRANDE CHAPELLE Albert Recasens, direzione

SALVE REGINA Messa, mottetti e Magnificat di T. Luis de Victoria Novità Festival

Born in Castille, Tomás Luis de Victoria worked in Italy, mainly in Rome, and probably represents the most important composer of Spanish Renaissance. Among his sacred works, composed between the XVth and XVIth century, the Salve Regina mass (Rome, 1592) stands out: it marvellously combines the Palestrina Roman style and the expressive character typical of the Spanish tradition. The concert, including also motets dedicated to the Virgin and the superb Magnificat for 8 voices, is performed by La Grande Chapelle di Albert Recasens, invited for the first time at the Festival. Upon its foundation in 2005, fired by a desire to spread Spain’s musical heritage, the ensemble has been awarded many prizes for the artistic rigour and the original programmes.

Mercoledì 18 maggio, ore 21.00 – Museo civico Ala Ponzone CREMONA ANTIQUA Anna Camporini, soprano Anna Bessi, mezzosoprano ET IO CANTO PER LEI Duetti di Claudio Monteverdi In the elegant galleries of Palazzo Affaitati one can admire paintings, frescos and sculptures of 15th and 16th century artists: portraits, still life, landscapes far distant in space and time, but brought back to life by Monteverdi’s refined music and poetry... in a woman disguise.

Giovedì 19 maggio, ore 21.00 – Palcoscenico Teatro A. Ponchielli MICHEL GODARD QUARTET Michel Godard, serpentone, tuba e basso Guillemette Laurens, voce Gavino Murgia, voce e sassofono Luciano Biondini, fisarmonica

A TRACE OF GRACE Musiche di C. Monteverdi, M. Godard Across – Novità Festival

Michel Godard is today one of the most interesting musicians: talented tuba player, he contributed to the rediscovery of the Renaissance serpent; he performs crossover programmes with an individual style and an outstanding virtuosism. His last project dedicated to Monteverdi combines jazz and baroque musicians in search of a common language, among improvisations and daring harmonies. An evocative game of mirrors and of contaminations merging past and present.

Venerdì 20 maggio, ore 21.00 – Chiesa S. Marcellino GHISLIERI CHOIR & CONSORT Marlis Petersen, soprano

Marta Fumagalli, contralto Giulio Prandi, direzione

SOL RESPLENDET Messa in re maggiore e mottettoni di G. B. Pergolesi Pergolesi’s life has always had an aura of legend, due to the composer’s fame and intense activity and probably to his premature death at the age of 26. Renown throughout Europe for his modern pre-Romantic operas, Pergolesi also wrote marvellous sacred music (such as his Stabat Mater). The Ghislieri Choir & Consort perfoms his Mass in D and two unpublished motets dedicated to the Virgin (Dignas laudes

resonemus and Sol resplendet) in a magnificent concert for double choir and orchestra.

Sabato 21 maggio, ore 21.00 – Chiesa S. Marcellino LA CAPELLA REIAL DE CATALUNYA HESPÈRION XXI Jordi Savall, direzione

IL LLIBRE VERMELL di MONTSERRAT Canti e danze per la Vergine Nera di Montserrat

Not far from Barcelona, the Monastery of Montserrat, one of the most spiritual venues in Europe, rises on an enchanting peak and is dedicated to the Black Madonna, patron saint of Catalonia since 1881. The 14th-century manuscript Llibre Vermell is preserved here, saved from the Napoleonic sack. Jordi Savall and his ensemble bring back to life the splendid collection of medieval dances, virelai, canons and liturgical songs written to welcome the pilgrims after their long journey. Domenica 22 maggio, ore 18.00 – Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi (Museo del Violino) LES TALENS LYRIQUES Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, tenore Anders J. Dahlin, tenore Christophe Rousset, direzione

ZEFIRO TORNA Musiche di C. Monteverdi, D. Castello, G. B. Fontana

In his Books of Madrigals, Claudio Monteverdi depicts all human feelings, light and intense, embodied in an extremely modern music. Key-figure of the transition from Renaissance to Baroque, Monteverdi explores the polyphonic madrigal, as well as the new path of monody leading later to operas and cantatas. The prestigeous French ensemble Les Talens Lyriques performs the most beautiful madrigals (particularly from Book VIII) and arias and duets from L’incoronazione di Poppea and from Il ritorno di Ulisse in patria.

Giovedì 26 maggio, ore 21.00 – Museo Civico Ala Ponzone LUCA SCARLINI, storyteller

EURIDICE IN PERICOLO Un racconto son et lumière sulle cantatrici di Claudio Monteverdi

Anna Bessi, mezzosoprano CREMONA ANTIQUA Musiche di C. Monteverdi, S. Rossi Across

Famous singers of the time often came across Claudio Monteverdi’s life and music. The charming Adriana Basile, sister of the famous author of The Tale of tales, was one of the most important performes of the recitar cantando in Mantua, while nurturing her secret relationship with the refined and jelous Duke Gonzaga. Salomone Rossi’s sister, Madama Europa, was also active at the court of Mantua and was dramatically killed by the Spanish troops. Extraordinary women lived a life of light and shadows, during an incredible artistic age, among wars and famine. Luca Scarlini tells us Monteverdi’s daily life between Mantua and Cremona, for an unforgettable evening of theatre, improvisations, words and music.

Venerdì 27 maggio, ore 21.00 – Chiesa S. Marcellino IL CANTO D’ORFEO LES CORNETS NOIRS Gianluca Capuano, direzione

VESPRO DELLA BEATA VERGINE di Claudio Monteverdi The Monteverdi Festival could not miss the appointment with the magnificent Vespro della Beata Vergine

(Venice, 1610), an absolute cornerstone performed by Il Canto d’Orfeo, reinvited after a few years leave. Monteverdi’s first sacred composition combines an intimate spiritual prayer to the versatile and lavishing compositional forms.

Sabato 28 maggio, ore 21.00 – Chiesa S. Marcellino THE TALLIS SCHOLARS Peter Philips, direzione

GAUDE VIRGO Musiche di J. Desprez, A. Lotti, C. Monteverdi, A. Pärt

A fascinating concert performed by the Tallis Scholars and dedicated to the Virgin Mary: the grand architectures of Josquin’s Ave Maris Stella mass echo with the limpid and abstract sonorities of Pärt’s The

Woman with the Alabaster Box, with the dramatic intensity of Lotti’s Crucifixus and with the famous motets composed by Monteverdi the ‘divine’.

Domenica 29 maggio, ore 11.00 – Palazzo Cavalcabò RADIO ANTIQUA Renato Dolcini, baritono

ALTRI CANTI D'AMOR Musiche di C. Monteverdi, S. Landi, A. Caldara, G. F. Händel, N. Porpora Résidences Jeunes Ensembles 2016 in collaborazione con Centre culturel de rencontre - Festival d’Ambronay e Ghislieri Musica, Pavia Orizzonti

Madrigals, arias, cantatas spanning over 150 years of Italian music: chamber dramatic miniatures, often composed and performed on one unique occasion – a diplomatic visit, an arcadic contest, or for the pleasure of a prince and his court. Delicate voices and instruments resounded in the palaces of Mantua, Rome, London... and in one of the most elegant Renaissance palaces in Cremona with Radio Antiqua, a promising young ensemble founded in 2012 at The Hague.

Domenica 29 maggio, ore 18.00 – Palazzo Pallavicino Ariguzzi MICROLOGUS Patrizia Bovi, canto e direzione

MADRE DE DEUS Cantigas de Santa Maria del Rey Alfonso X «El Sabio» The over 400 Cantigas de Santa Maria represent one of the most important collections of Medieval religious poems with music notation, composed under the patronage and influence of King Alfonso X of Castille. Preserved in several precious 13th-century manuscripts, the fascinating Cantigas are related to Marian miracles and depict the Virgin with both earthly and heavenly traits. A marvellous universe and everyday life from the Middle Ages that the Micrologus ensemble rebuilds with rigour and energy. Giovedì 2 giugno, ore 21.00 – Auditorium Giovanni Arvedi (Museo del Violino) ROBERTA INVERNIZZI & SONIA PRINA Ensemble Claudiana Luca Pianca, direzione

AMORE E MORTE DELL’AMORE Musiche di C. Monteverdi, F. Durante, G. F. Händel, A. Lotti, B. Marcello

The concert casts light over some masterpieces of Italian Baroque music performed by outstanding artists: Luca Pianca, the co-founder of Giardino Armonico, soprano Roberta Invernizzi and alto Sonia Prina. An intense and moving programme dedicated to Love and Death combining beautiful arias and duets of celebrated 17th-century Italian composers.

MONTEVERDI MUSIC CRUISE Concerts and readings on board from Cremona to Mantua and Venice

3 – 4 June 2016 Monteverdi Festival sets sail for a new Music Cruise, ready for the journey that Monteverdi undertook so many times between Cremona, Mantua and Venice. Concerts on the deck and at the berth, in marvellous venues such as Gonzaga’s Palazzo Ducale or S. Giorgio Island. A boating holiday, a romantic dinner on the deck, floating on the water and discovering a stunning ancestrial landscapes.

Friday, 3 June h. 8.45 – Meeting point in Largo Marinai d’Italia and boarding on Stradivari Boat, one of the biggest boats sailing down the River Po. h. 9.00 – Departure from Cremona

h. 11.00 – Concert on the deck ENSEMBLE VOZ LATINA

L’AMANTE SEGRETO Music by C. Monteverdi, F. Caccini, F. Cavalli, T. Merula, B. Strozzi Virgins and Nymphs, Muses and Goddesses, tears, joys and laments. Spring breeze and

pitiful betrayals. Woman is the core of this concert, both sacred and secular, featuring

music by Monteverdi, Francesca Caccini and Barbara Strozzi, as well as by Latin

American composers that Voz Latina, the ensemble founded in Cremona but of

Argentinian descent, aims at rediscovering

h. 12.30 – Lunch on board h. 13.30 /14.00 – Arrival in Casalmaggiore and Bus Transfer to Sacchetta h. 16.00 – Boarding at Sacchetta, destination Mantua h. 18.00 – Arrival in Mantua. City touring. h. 18.10 – BusTransfer to the hotel and return at h. 19.00 to Mantua town centre (optional)

h. 19.30 – Palazzo Ducale ,Mantua ENSEMBLE BAROCCO DELL'ORCHESTRA DA CAMERA DI MANTOVA Francesco Moi, clavicembalo IL COMBATTIMENTO DI TANCREDI E CLORINDA by C. Monteverdi in collaboration with Mantova Chamber Music Festival Composed in 1624 for the Carnival season and published in the Eighth

Book of madirigals (Venice, 1638), Il combattimento is an absolute

masterpiece, combining both madrigal and dramatic style, in which

Monteverdi is looking for innovative solutions as to music and theatre.

Tancredi and Clorinda’s romance, set against the backdrop of the first

crusade, and drawn from the La Gerusalemme liberata, will be evoked in

the marvellous setting of Palazzo Ducale, with the voices of Anna

Simboli, Mauro Borgioni and Raffaele Giordani.

h. 21.00 – Dinner on board in the middle of the Inferior Lake with a stunning view by night of Mantua’s skyline

h. 22.30 – Transfer to the hotel

Saturday, 4 June h. 8.00 – Bus transfer from Mantua to Taglio di Po (RO) h. 10.30 – Boarding at Taglio di Po, Motonave Delta Tour h. 12.30 – Stop in Chioggia and short guided tour h. 13.00 –Lunch on board, sailing towards Venice

h. 14.00 –Stop at the Island of S. Giorgio Maggiore

h. 14.30 – Concert at the Island of S. Giorgio NUOVA BRIGATA PRETOLANA Laura Catrani, soprano

CANTI D’AIA, DI BOTTEGA E DI CORTE Music by C. Monteverdi and popular songs Crossing a bridge over distant styles and ages, the soprano Laura Catrani meets

the oral tradition of the Nuova Brigata Pretolana, combining war and love songs

and Monteverdi’s scherzi and canzonette. With their rudimentary percussions

(cutlery, bottles, sticks, trays, bricks and so on), bards and musicians give life to

the Nymph, the Turkish Dame, 17th-century knights and ladies, and sing post-

war popular tales, ballads and serenades. Performing music together, without

denying their own identity, and discovering that a surprising common world still

exists.

h. 16.00 – Panoramic tour of the Lagoon. Arrival in Venice, Zattere at h. 17.00, and transfer on foot to Teatro La Fenice.

H. 18.00 – TEATRO LA FENICE, SALE APOLLINEE Francesca Aspromonte, soprano Ivano Zanenghi, liuto

A DONNA BELLA E CRUDELE Arias for soprano and continuo by Barbara Strozzi in collaboration with Fondazione Teatro La Fenice, Venezia A refined and intimate concert dedicated to one of the most fascinating women of the 17th century: daughter of the renown

librettist Giulio Strozzi, Barbara was a prolific composer, she studied with Cesti and Cavalli and was member of the

Accademia degli Unisoni in Venice. The concert will be held in the splendid neoclassical halls of Teatro La Fenice.

h. 21..15 –Transfer from Pontile Zattere to Tronchetto. Bus transfer to Cremona (due arrival at h. 24.00)

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TICKETS

€ 370,00 per person Price includes: cruise, lunches and dinner on the cruise, accommodation in Mantua, trasfer, concerts.

INFORMATION & BOOKING

Call Center Consorzio Navigare L’Adda Phone 029094242 Opening hours: Mon -Sun: 10.00-18.00 e-mail: info@navigarelombardia.it www.navigareladda.it

INFORMATION MONTEVERDI FESTIVAL

Fondazione Teatro A. Ponchielli C.so Vittorio Emanuele II, 52 - CREMONA phone 0372.022010/011 fax 0372.022099 e-mail: info@teatroponchielli.it www.teatroponchielli.it

PREZZI ABBONAMENTO E BIGLIETTI

ABBONAMENTO Abbonamento (n. 14 concerti) (posto unico) € 200,00 Prelazione ex abbonati e nuovi abbonamenti dal 22 febbraio al 4 marzo BIGLIETTI Concerti del 21, 27 e 28 maggio € 25,00

Concerti del 14, 20 e 22 maggio € 20,00

Concerti del 15 (pom), 19 maggio, 29 maggio (pom) e 2 giugno € 15,00

Concerto del 15 (matt)e 29 maggio (mattina) € 10,00

Incontri con l’arte e la musica del 18 e 26 maggio € 5,00

Weekend 1 dal 14 al 15 maggio (3 concerti) € 43,00 Weekend 2 dal 19 maggio al 22 maggio (4 concerti) € 75,00 Weekend 3 dal 27 maggio al 29 maggio (4 concerti) € 70,00 Domeniche a palazzo (2 concerti, ore 11.00 e ore 18.00) € 23,00

Biglietto studenti € 8,00 Biglietti dei singoli concerti in vendita dal 5 marzo

INFORMAZIONI e PRENOTAZIONI CROCIERA

Call Center Consorzio Navigare L’Adda

Tel. 029094242

Orari di apertura: Lunedi - Domenica, 10.00-18-00

e-mail: info@navigareinlombardia.it

sito: www.navigareinlombardia.it

INFORMAZIONI MONTEVERDI FESTIVAL

Segreteria del Teatro: tel. 0372 022010/11

info@teatroponchielli.it

www.teatroponchielli.it