Galatea in “Aci, Galatea e Polifemo” | Barocco Europeo Festival

The ‘European Baroque’ Festival has been actively promoting the dissemination of Early Music for twenty years, and one of the flagship projects for the 2023 edition was the Workshop for the staging of the Baroque Serenade Acis, Galatea and Polyphemus by Georg Friedrich Händel. To this end, a vocal competition was organized to identify three young solo singers for the leads, the final stage of which was held last June 17. The commission consisted of. Sara Mingardo (contralto), Cesare Scarton (director), Alberto Martini, Daniela Goldoni, Ruggero Spagnol, Alberto Maron (harpsichordist) and Donatella Busetto (instrumentalist and artistic director of the European Baroque Festival).The winners were soprano Maddalena De Biasi (for the role of Aci) and mezzo-soprano Emma Alessi Innocenti (for the character of Galatea). The role of Polyphemus, on the other hand, was entrusted to bass Yuri Guerra.

The project will include a Vocal Workshop aimed at staging the performance, held by the great alto Sara Mingardo. The direction will be handled by Cesare Scarton, while on the podium maestro Riccardo Doni will conduct the Cenacolo Musicale Orchestra.
The sets and costumes will be created by students of the Three-year Stage Design Program at NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, coordinated by their teachers Giacomo Andrico, Francesca Pedrotti and Francesca Guarnone.

The performance will be produced with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the Friuli Foundation and will be recorded for the purpose of being distributed through national and international platforms such as Rai 5, Rai Cultura, RaiPlay, Arte, RSI (Radio Televisione della Svizzera Italiana), ORF (Austrian national radio and television), ZDF/ARD (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehe), Medici TV, BBC, and SKY Classica HD.

Aci – Maddalena De Biasi
Galatea – Emma Alessi Innocenti
Polifemo – Yuri Guerra

Mimes: Andrea Maddalozzo, Leandro Bertolo, Marta Lucchese

Director: Cesare Scarton
Conductor: Riccardo Doni
Vocal and stylistic supervision: Sara Mingardo
Concept: Donatella Busetto

Video-scenographic set design by the Bachelor students of the Scenography Course at NABA, Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti: Sabina Bratu, Elena Toffolon, Angelica Cabass , Giulia Balloni, Abraham Gutierrez, Alva Bergstrom, Daiana Nitu

Cenacolo Musicale Orchestra
Tommaso Luison – main violinAlessandro Mele, Massimiliano Tieppo, Matteo Rozzi, Ludovica Lanaro, Elisa Franzini – violinsAlessia Turri, Michele Sguotti – violasGiancarlo Trimboli, Cristina Vidoni – cellosMauro Zavagno – violoneDavide Giacuzzo, Andrea Bracco – trumpetsGregorio Carraro – oboe/recorderFabiano Merlante – theorbo
Donatella Busetto – organ