After making his debut as a guest conductor in Beaune last summer, successfully conducting his first oratorio, Porpora’s Il Trionfo della Divina Giustizia, recreated in its world premiere, Thibault Noally, concertmaster of Marc Minkowski’s Musiciens du Louvre, conducts his first opera: Vivaldi’s Tamerlano. Tamerlano is a pasticcio opera in which Vivaldi composed all the recitatives and most of the arias, borrowing some of them from his previous operas (Giustinio, Farnace, Semiramide, Motezuma) as well as from his Neapolitan colleagues Hasse, Giacomelli and Broschi. The plot centres on Bajazet, the Ottoman sultan, who is defeated by Tamerlane, the cruel emperor of the Tartars, who wishes to marry Asteria, Bajazet’s daughter. In despair, Bajazet takes his own life. Scenes of passion, anger and jealousy are an opportunity for Vivaldi to propose virtuoso, even pyrotechnic arias, such as the famous arias “Qual guerriero in campo armato” sung by Irène and “Anch’ il mar par che sommerga” by Idaspe in Act 1.

Distribution

Accademia Bizantina / Conductor : Ottavio Dantone

Bajazet – Bruno Taddia, baryton
Tamerlano – Filippo Mineccia, contre-tenor
Asteria – Delphine Galou, contre-alto
Irène – Shaked Bar, soprano
Andronico – Marina de Liso, mezzo-soprano
Idaspe – Benedetta Mazzuccato, soprano