Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria

In a rare display of unanimous praise, international music critics rated
this cycle one of the greatest operatic events of its time. Although
Monteverdi played a truly important role in the development of opera, only
few major opera houses have ventured to present these three Baroque
masterpieces. Years of intensive study by conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
not only of the transmitted scores but also of the instruments used in
Monteverdi's time, were necessary to provide a basis for the exceptionally
high standard of the Zurich productions. Just how meticulously Harnoncourt
and the celebrated stage director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle prepared themselves
is made partly clear by the fact that the orchestra exclusively played
original 17th-century instruments and specially-made copies for these
productions. This in turn meant that each of the 39 members of the
-awaited expansion of the standard opera repertoire had successfully been
realized. What makes the Monteverdi cycle a unique project is the certainty
that it can never again be repeated with quite the same quality and
feeling.

Composer:	Claudio Monteverdi
Title:	Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
Conductor:	Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Staged By:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Soloist:	Werner Hollweg, Trudeliese Schmidt, Francisco Araiza, Philippe Huttenlocher, Janet Perry
Set:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Orchestra:	Monteverdi-Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich
Chorus:	Chor der Oper Zürich
Video Director:	Jean-Pierre Ponnelle
Genre:	Opera
Length:	155 minutes
Cat.No.:	A05004563