This opera is a masterpiece of the Venetian Baroque by one of its most prominent composers. Written and brought to the stage for the first time almost precisely in the middle of the seventeenth century, Francesco Cavalli’s La Calisto is characterized by its musical inventiveness, an extraordinarily focused rendering of the characters, and a sophisticated libretto filled with serious and comic situations as well as characters.

The plot lines are multilayered, downright labyrinthine, and the scene changes and turns of events are surprising. The most powerful of all passions, love, is the driving force to which all the characters are subject in all their trials and tribulations: be they gods, natural beings, or humans.

Director Stefan Herheim will stage this colorful kaleidoscope of words and sounds using a kind of “baroque sci-fi aesthetic” with all the thematic variety and color that inheres in this opera, ending with a starry sky. Christina Pluhar will create the opera’s musical magic with her ensemble L’Arpeggiata.

Coproduction with the MusikTheater an der Wien

Additional information

Dramma per musica in three acts and a prologue (1651)