Carlo Vistoli

A ruthless dictator falls in love with a sexy woman. Together, they get rid of every obstacle in their way: his wife, her former lover, and also the voice of reason. Everything is sacrificed to passion, in this tale where evil triumphs, virtue and reason are humiliated, and nothing corresponds to our moral principles. Jan Lauwers, the director and choreographer, sets L'incoronazione di Poppea in a way congenial to his means: a visual artist, he translated the emotions expressed by Monteverdi’s music into dancing and visual images. The result was mixed; the general impression was one of many ideas, seemingly not fully developed or analysed. The stage was constantly cluttered with moving bodies, or tableau vivants, leaving a sense of confusion, and distracting from the music.

For his first appearance in the pit in Paris with his Artaserse ensemble, Philippe Jaroussky has chosen a masterpiece that he knows well, having sung the role of Sesto on numerous occasions, notably in the highly acclaimed Salzburg production alongside Cecilia Bartoli. As for the staging, we will welcome for the first time on Avenue Montaigne a Venetian who is used to the greatest European stages and who has undertaken his first Handel, Alcina, in the summer of 2019 in Salzburg with Ruggiero... Philippe Jaroussky. Everyone agrees on his ability to imagine delicate and highly effective dramaturgical worlds (his Barber of Seville for the Paris Opera is an irresistible visual translation of Rossini's frenzied score). His debut in opera seria with Alcina also showed his intelligence in giving coherence and emotion to the demanding arias da capo. On stage, a team familiar with the Théàtre des Champs-Elysées and this repertoire, led by a very fine trio of French women.