Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda - Monteverdi

William Christie and Paul Agnew jointly conduct this program dedicated to Claudio Monteverdi, inviting audiences to delve into the origins of opera and revealing the striking modernity of this music.

A founding figure of modern music, Claudio Monteverdi occupies a central place in the history of the madrigal and the birth of opera. A revolutionary creativity that this new program invites us to discover by bringing together a selection of the composer’s most beautiful madrigals alongside a seminal work: the famous Combat of Tancredi and Clorinda. Inspired by Tasso’s La Gerusalemme Liberata, this drama recounts the tragic struggle between the knight Tancredi and his enemy Clorinda, whom he loves without recognizing her. Through the power of the narrative, musical invention, and the expressiveness of the emotions, Monteverdi invented here a new theatrical form, heralding the opera and profoundly transforming Western musical composition. 

Both renowned specialists in this repertoire, William Christie and Paul Agnew have each conducted landmark recordings of it. For the very first time, the two co-artistic directors of Les Arts Florissants will jointly conduct, in a single concert, this music so dear to their hearts. They are joined for the occasion by an ensemble of exceptional singers and instrumentalists, most of whom come from programs led by Les Arts Florissants to foster the emergence of some of the most promising young artists of their generation.

An exceptional event in every respect, both for its symbolic significance and for the promise of so much talent brought together!