Seventeenth-century Naples was the capital of music and the birthplace of opera and the (southern) commedia dell’arte. The famous Neapolitan conservatories encouraged the development of exceptional music, innovative composers and famous castrati. In their programme Alla Napoletana, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata explore the world of seventeenth-century music: Two lovers, driven mad by their passion, bemoan their agony in a “hospital for the lovesick”; in the Gulf of Naples, war breaks out between small fish and big fish because of an unfaithful sardine; at the manger of the baby Jesus the shepherds sing their lullabies and tarantellas; in the streets of Naples people dance exuberantly while virtuoso melodies play in the palaces. A programme as varied, as lively and as colourful as the city at the foot of Mount Vesuvius itself.

Concert performance in Italian with German surtitles