Belcanto Festival Opera Shows for Family & Schools
Le cinesi
Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García
Presentation
Subject
One of the last works of Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García, Le cinesi (The Chinese Ladies) was originally written by Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) and set to music by Antonio Caldara (c.1671-1736) in 1735 as an entertainment (azione teatrale) for the Imperial Court in Vienna. The libretto was also later set to music by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) and performed for the Austrian royal family at the Vienna Schlosshof in 1754. García wrote his version in 1831 for the students of his Academy in Paris. The libretto, with its theme of social liberation versus tradition, would have appealed to García and also to his audience in post-Revolution France. He streamlined the libretto (at times converting lengthy sections of recitative into compact ensembles) and added new text for a few of the musical numbers.
Le cinesi
Azione teatrale in one act
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio
Music by Manuel del Pópulo Vicente García
First Italian representation
In cooperation with Festival Rossini in Wildbad,
Concertante Barcelona Academia Internacionale de Música
and Accademia del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Artists
Director
Jochen Schönleber
Piano
Michele D’Elia
Lisinga
Francesca Longari
Sivene
Giada Frasconi
Tangia
Ana Victoria Pitts
Silango
Patrick Kabongo Mubenga