Afternoon Concert

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Afternoon Concert: Opera Matinee: Vivaldi's Dorilla in Tempe from Wexford

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Opera Matinee: Vivaldi's Dorilla in Tempe from Wexford

BBC Radio 3 - Afternoon Concert, Opera Matinee: Vivaldi's Dorilla in Tempe from Wexford

Vivaldi’s opera Dorilla in Tempe from the 2019 Wexford Festival in Ireland.

Vivaldi’s opera Dorilla in Tempe - first performed in Venice in 1726 - is based on pastoral themes from Greek myth. This Wexford Festival production is conducted by Andrea Marchiol.

Presented by Elizabeth Alker.

Antonio Vivaldi’s 1726 opera Dorilla in Tempe is based on themes from Greek myth.  The story takes place in Tempe. Like the music, the plot intertwines pastoral and heroic elements and centres on the shepherd Nomio, who is in fact Apollo in disguise. Nomio falls in love with Dorilla, the daughter of Admeto, King of Thessaly, who is herself in love with the shepherd Elmiro. Admeto is forced by the gods to save his kingdom by offering his daughter as a sacrifice to the sea-serpent Pitone, but she is rescued just in time by Nomio. Nomio claims the hand of Dorilla as his reward, but she remains reluctant and escapes with Elmiro. The pair are captured, and Elmiro is sentenced to death. Finally, however, the intervention of Nomio, revealing his divine identity, saves the situation and Dorilla and Elmiro are reunited.

This production was recorded last November by the Wexford Festival Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of Andrea Marchiol, accompanying a cast including Manuela Custer as Dorillla, Marco Bussy as Admeto, Véronique Valdès as Nomio and José Maria lo Monaco as Elmiro.

The opera is followed by more from this week's featured performing group - The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Klaus Mäkelä conducts Kodály's Dances of Galánta, which was written to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society in 1933 and is based on the folk music of the region. 

2.00pm
Antonio Vivaldi: Dorilla in Tempe

Dorilla - Manuela Custer (soprano)
Admeto, King of Thessaly - Marco Bussy (bass)
Nomio/Apollo - Véronique Valdès (contralto)
Elmiro - José Maria lo Monaco (soprano)
Filindo - Rosa Bove (contralto)
Eudamia - Laura Margaret Smith (mezzo-soprano)
Ninfa - Rebecca Hardwick (soprano) 
Ninfa - Lizzie Holmes (soprano)
Pastora - Meriel Cunningham (mezzo-soprano)
Pastora – Emma Lewis (mezzo-soprano)
Wexford Festival Chorus
Wexford Festival Orchestra
Andrea Marchiol, conductor

4.40pm
Zoltán Kodály: Dances of Galánta
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Orchestra
Klaus Mäkelä (conductor)

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Opera Matinee: Vivaldi's Dorilla in Tempe from Wexford

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