Acclaimed Monteverdi with John Eliot Gardiner

The first of Gardiner’s acclaimed Monteverdi operatic trilogy being released by Opus Arte in 2022.

Opera was in its infancy when Monteverdi wrote L’Orfeo, only six years after the first example of a drama set wholly to music had been performed in Florence. He brought to the work a revolutionary synthesis of text, staging and musical architecture that virtually defined the future of opera. John Eliot Gardiner first conducted L’Orfeo at the Proms in London in 1967. For decades he has been at the forefront of Monteverdi performance and scholarship and in 2017, the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth, and the 50th anniversary of his own first performance of the opera, he undertook the crowning achievement of his association with the composer, an odyssey to perform all three surviving full-length operas. This performance of L’Orfeo was given at the historic Teatro La Fenice in Venice – which has seen triumphant premieres of works by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and many others – in a critically acclaimed semi-staged production.

“This production of the first great opera ever written is otherworldly and unforgettable…Monteverdi’s genius shone through at every turn in this vibrant, heartfelt performance…”
(The Times ★★★★★)

“Gardiner’s hand-picked line up of soloists has been knitted into a real company… Binding it together was Gardiner, knowing exactly when to allow the drama to unfold naturally, when to give it an extra push… it
was all magically coherent every phrase totally memorable”
(The Guardian ★★★★★)

Original series title Opera
Recording date 2017
Recording location Teatro La Fenice
Production Company Monteverdi Choir & Orchestras and Ozango, Unitel, Centre National du Cinema et l'image animee, France Televisions, M_Media TV and Fondazione Teatro la Fenice
TV Director Sebastien Glas
Producer Jean-Jacques Schaettel, Lise Lemeunier, Magdalena Herbst
Conductor John Eliot Gardiner
Audio format LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio Surround
Distribution VOD Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd
Distribution homevideo / DVD Naxos Rights (Europe) Ltd