Shannon Barry, Vita Mondano
Nigel North, Director

“Rappresentatione is not, it should be said, an opera with the declamatory flexibility, narrative grip or dramatic depth of Monteverdi’s Orfeo of seven years later – it is far more static and undifferentiated than that – but it does have a similar flavour with its solos, choruses and ritornellos, many of them in decidedly dance-like measure. Another of Cavalieri’s suggestions – separating the forces into three groups, each in its own aural space – is also strikingly observed. Rappresentatione may not be a masterpiece of opera but surely no performance has ever worked harder on its behalf than this one.”