PRACTICALLY my first assignment as a cub critic was to review Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Zurich Opera’s production of The Coronation of Poppea. That was in 1978, but I still recall the elation I felt at hearing this great Baroque pioneer sweep centuries of dust from Monteverdi’s masterpiece.
L'incoronazione di Poppea
Richard Morrison at the Festival Hall [Times Online, 5 Mar 05]
PRACTICALLY my first assignment as a cub critic was to review Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting Zurich Opera's production of The Coronation of Poppea. That was in 1978, but I still recall the elation I felt at hearing this great Baroque pioneer sweep centuries of dust from Monteverdi's masterpiece.
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L'Incoronazione di Poppea
Andrew Clements [The Guardian, 7 Mar 05]
There is no conductor alive today with longer experience of performing Monteverdi operas than Nikolaus Harnoncourt. When he was a cellist in the 1950s he played in a performance of Orfeo conducted by Paul Hindemith, and the cycle of all three operas he conducted in stagings by Jean-Pierre Ponelle at the Zurich Opera in the early 1970s played a crucial part in establishing the works in the repertory. Now Harnoncourt has gone back to Zurich for a new production of L'Incoronazione di Poppea. It opened there two weeks ago, and came as a one-off concert performance to the Festival Hall.