Amor und Psyche

Venus wants to get rid of the beautiful Psyche and sends Cupid to destroy her. But he falls in love with her. The secret affair has one problem: Psyche is not allowed to see her super lover. She does not abide by this rule and the drama starts.

Alfredo Bernardini is conducting his fourth opera by Johann Joseph Fux at the styriarte festival: Psiche, an especially dramatic score from 1720. Love and lust, desire and despair, jealousy and clemency all add to the thrilling story of beautiful Psyche, the bride of Amor (Cupid), who is almost destroyed by the machinations of Venus. Raffaele Pe and Monica Piccinini lead a brilliant quintet of soloists, enveloped in the opulent sound of the Zefiro orchestra and the Arnold Schoenberg Chor. Baroque opera with everything an audience could wish for on a wonderful summer evening.

Programme

Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741): Psiche, Componimento da camera per musica, K 313
with musical additions by Antonio Caldara (1670-1736)
Libretto: Apostolo Zeno (1669–1750)

Artists

Carlotta Colombo, Venere (soprano)
Monica Piccinini, Psiche (soprano)
Raffaele Pe, Amore (countertenor)
Christopher Ainslie, Mercurius (countertenor)
Giacomo Nanni, Giove (basso)

Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Study: Erwin Ortner)
Zefiro Barockorchester
Conductor: Alfredo Bernardini

Staging: Adrian Schvarzstein
Equipment: Lilli Hartmann
Dramaturgy: Karl Böhmer
Stage management: Wolfgang Atzenhofer
Assistant director: Jūratė Širvytė

Zefiro Barockorchetser:
Marcello Gatti, flute
Paolo Grazzi & Amy Power, oboe
Ernst Schlader, chalumeau
Alberto Grazzi, bassoon
Cecilia Bernardini, Claudia Combs, Brigitte Duftschmid & Isabella Bison, violins 1
Rossella Croce, Ulrike Fischer, Monika Toth & Isotta Grazzi, Violins 2
Teresa Ceccato & Barbara Palma, violas
Gaetano Nasillo & Sara Bennici, violoncelli
Paolo Zuccheri, double bass
Evangelina Mascardi, theorbo
Anna Fontana, harpsichord

Technical team

Technical management: Christian Bader
Technical coordination: Matti Kruse
Light engineering: Thomas Bernhardt, Patrick Suppan
Head of Dressers: Bettina Dreissger
Make-up artist: Susanne Malik
Artist support: Lisa Kaufmann
Production management: Enya Reinprecht

Recorded on June 26 at the festival Styriarte 2021 at Eggenberg Palace, Graz

A Film by Reziprok.
A Production by the House of Styriarte.

powered by Raiffeisen Landesbank Steiermark und allen Steirischen Raiffeisenbanken