Harnoncourt conducts Monteverdi: Il ritorno d’Ulisse

The Zurich Opera’s Monteverdi cycle in the mid-1970s caused a sensation, setting a new standard for how period instruments could be used to bring early music to the stage. Nikolaus Harnoncourt established himself as an important opera conductor, and his favourite director of many years, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, proved how modern and fresh the works of the first great opera composer in music history can be. Here that intense preparation and engagement with historical sources bears fruit in a superb production of Monteverdi’s remarkable final extant opera, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria sua.

Soloists: 

Trudeliese Schmidt (Mezzo-Soprano), Francisco Araiza (Tenor), Janet Perry (Soprano), Werner Hollweg (Tenor), Werner Gröschel (Bass), Renate Lenhart (Mezzo-Soprano), Klaus Brettschneider (Boy Soprano), Joszef Dene (Bass), Hans Franzen (Bass), Helrun Gardow (Mezzo-Soprano), Simon Estes (Bass), Peter Straka (Tenor), Paul Esswood (Countertenor), Peter Keller (Tenor), Philippe Huttenlocher (Baritone), Arley Reece (Mezzo-Soprano), Maria Minetto (Mezzo-Soprano), Fritz Peter (Tenor), Orlando Montez (Tenor)

Ensemble: 

Monteverdi Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich

Conductor: 

Nikolaus Harnoncourt