Claudio Monteverdi, The Coronation of Poppea – Latinitas Nostra, Athens Festival
Markellos ChrysikopoulosDirected by
Apostolia Papadimaki
Sets – Costumes
Katerina – Christina Manolakou
Lighting
Philipos Koutsaftis
Latinitas Nostra Baroque Ensemble
Monteverdi’s last and most important work is as human as it is ground-breaking. Thanks to an innovative libretto which takes liberties with its material, and a score which combines the moving with the sensual and the amusing with the dramatic, the opera continues to delight audiences to this day.
Can virtue be punished and greed rewarded? Of course, the audience of 1642 knew that Poppea’sallure would not last, that Nero would take his own life just a few years later, and that most of the opera’s heroes would meet an untimely end.
Monteverdi is often justly compared with his contemporary, Shakespeare, for his poetics, his ability to lay the soul bare, and the seminal role he played in the development of Western music.