Music by Daniele da Castrovillari – Libretto by Giacomo dall’Angelo1662 – Teatro San Angelo – Venezia
Ars Minerva is creating a Carnival Series, and will bring Venice to San Francisco every year by reviving a forgotten Venetian opera originally written for the Carnival.
Daniele da Castrovillari’s La Cleopatra – lost in the archives of Venice’s Biblioteca Marciana since its premiere in 1662 – bears the name of the femme fatale whose legend has been recounted by everyone from Plutarch to Burton and Taylor. But those who anticipate yet another version of that famed tragedy should brace themselves for a hefty dose of the unexpected. Castrovillari and his librettist Giacomo dall’Angelo conjure up a lively salmagundi of romance, jealousy, skullduggery, sensuality, comedy, political catastrophe and attempted murder, climaxing in a surprise ending that is entirely in the spirit of Carnevale.Click here for a small preview of the music.
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