Orfeo e Dalsigre | Marche’s Baroque Festival

The most distinctive event of the 2026 season of the Marche’s Baroque Festival will take place on 25 October at 5.30 pm, when Orfeo e Dalsigre – a new play created by Gianni Gualdoni based on Pergolesi’s Four Chamber Cantatas – will be performed for the first time.

The work, presented in concert form, is based on a reinterpretation of the four original cantatas for solo soprano, with the narrative now divided between two protagonists, Orfeo and Dalsigre. The result is a new theatrical structure that draws on the stylistic features of 18th-century opera seria and transforms Pergolesi’s musical material into a dialogue between two characters.

The production will feature the company and the Marche’s Baroque Orchestra, with Federico Guglielmo as first violin and concertmaster. This is a new musicological project dedicated to Pergolesi, a composer with whom Jesi has historic ties; an initiative that aims to bring this repertoire back to a contemporary audience through a different dramatical perspective.

Programme

1. Chi non ode e chi non vede (Segreto tormento) · Cantata for soprano, strings and harpsichord
2. Luce degli occhi miei (L’addio) · Cantata for soprano, strings and harpsichord
3. Dalsigre, ahi! mia Dalsigre (Lontananza) · Cantata for soprano and continuo
4. Nel chiuso centro (Orfeo) · Cantata for soprano, strings and harpsichord

Hilary Aeschlimann, soprano
Emma Alessi Innocenti, mezzo-soprano
Federico Guglielmo, first violin and concertmaster
Marche’s Baroque Orchestra