Il Polifemo

Opera seria in three acts
Libretto by Paolo Antonio Rolli
Concert performance
in Italian lanuage with surtitles

Armonia Atenea
Musical direction: George Petrou

Franco Fagioli, Aci
Max Emanuel Cencic, Ulisse
Sreten Manojlović, Polifemo
Julia Lezhneva, Galatea
Rinnat Moriah, Narea
Sonja Runje, Calipso

Nicola Porpora was not only a composer but also a singing teacher. Among those who trained at his school was the great castrato Farinelli. In his operas he consequently highlighted the virtuosity of his singers, leaving behind spectacular scores for today’s star countertenors such as Emanuel Cencic (who celebrates his 40th anniversary as a stage performer with this production) and Franco Fagioli. With Il Polifemo in 1735, Porpora threw down the gauntlet to his London rival Handel and, appropriately, the opera tells the story of a veritable clash of the titans: It centres on the battle between Odysseus and the Cyclops Polyphemus and on the latter’s tragic love of the nymph Galatea.