★★★½☆ Comedy, musical richness and social commentary mingle in this early Venetian classic.

The Hackney Empire, London
October 14, 2016

English Touring Opera can look back on a year of remarkable achievements having given 164 performances in 91 venues around the UK. This season they have embarked on a trio of early operas which include Monteverdi (Ulysses’ Homecoming), Handel (Xerxes) and Cavalli (La Calisto). A small orchestra using early instruments has also been created for the tour and the operas will be complemented by performances with local choirs of Bach’s St. John Passion. Audiences will hear two of the great operas from the 17th-century Venetian repertoire and two important works from Bach and Handel that further pushed these musical boundaries.

La Calisto was first performed in 1651 at the 400-seat Teatro Sant’Apollinare in Venice, a venue owned by his librettist Giovanni Faustini. It was not a success and played for only eleven performances, often to small houses. Yet out of a large body of operatic work it is the most performed of his pieces today. Its attraction lies not only in some hauntingly beautiful music but in its broad comedy and revealing commentary on the human situation. It is a...