Andrea Marcon and Vivaldi's Giustino

Andrea Marcon, La Cetra and the Matinee - especially when it comes to Vivaldi, they are inseparable. Anyone who has experienced one of our many Dutch Vivaldi premieres knows: you don't want to miss this one either!

Great arias
It's really not just about the wonderful arias to Vivaldi's operas, but the elegiac "Vedrò con mio diletto" (I shall see with joy) from Giustino - sung then by the star castrato and now by a countertenor - will leave few cold. The Venetian Vivaldi guested with this opera in rival Rome during the carnival season of 1724. The church state was the source of castrato singers because, unlike in Venice, women were not allowed to perform there. For this reason, the original cast consisted exclusively of men; even the female roles of Arianna, Leocasta and Fortuna were sung by castrates.

Oriental flair
The opera, set in the Byzantine imperial court in Constantinople around the year 500, recounts power struggles, betrayals, visions and failed loves. But there is another aria that stands out, that of the title hero Giustino at the end of the second act: 'Ho nel petto un cor sì forte' (I carry in my breast a strong heart), written for alto caster and for violins, basso continuo and psalterium. The latter instrument lends an oriental flair to the music. Vivaldi specialist Andrea Marcon and his orchestra La Cetra come again with a baroque star cast in this Dutch premiere of the work.