Feel free to call it a gala, this evening of opera. One: with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, there is early music royalty on stage. Two: the already legendary eminences bring the stars of the future with them - 11 young singers building their way to the top in Christie's opera academy Le Jardin des Voix. Three: the music of Purcell, the Orpheus Britannicus who pretty much single-handedly coloured the picture of the English Baroque.
The Fairy Queen is perhaps Purcell's best-loved work and at the same time also an ode to William Shakespeare. His A Midsummer Night's Dream is fitted with a Baroque twist, a century after the fact. Power, refinement, melancholy and humour: this gem has lost nothing of its enchantment.
Watch the complete concert on emtv.online.