Leonardo García Alarcón has already established an impressive track record in early North Italian opera, with his acclaimed “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria” at the 2024 Aix-en-Provence Festival and his masterful Cavalli’s “Pompeo Magno” at Bayreuth in 2025. His interpretation with Cappella Mediterranea and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur was imbued with the freshness and vitality of a sunrise; under his baton, this first great masterpiece of western opera history felt like an early flowering, bursting with inexhaustible life.
A Master of the Stile Rappresentativo
The Elbphilharmonie proved once again to be a competitive venue for concert-version opera, offering immense spatial potential. During the “Intrada” and the choreographed movements of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur, the hall’s verticality was fully realized, creating an immersive theater. The lighting design was equally masterful, subtly mirroring the dramatic arc: while the Thracian fields were bathed in a celebratory warmth, the transition to the Underworld was marked by drenching the entire stage in a somber, blood-red hue to reflect the stark reality of Hades.
This performance was showcasing Alarcón’s command over the music of Monteverdi: a seamless musical fluidity, an internal dependence on the text rooted in the madrigal tradition, and high-dynamic emotional shifts. The integration of dance rhythms, performed with a free-spirited rubato, fused deeply into the operatic fabric. Under his charismatic and tension-filled baton, every merit and technical challenge of Monteverdi’s writing was rendered with supreme clarity, refined taste and absolute confidence.