Il Pomo d’Oro

The ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, which takes its name from an opera by Antonio Cesti, was founded in 2012. It comprises renowned specialists in historical performance practice, including the two instrumental soloists who perform this evening: the Bulgarian violinist Zefira Valova, who is concertmaster, and the Spanish lutenist Miguel Rincón. Their repertoire focuses on operas and instrumental works from the Baroque, Classical, and bel canto periods. Since 2016, Maxim Emelyanychev has been Principal Conductor of the orchestra, which also welcomes Riccardo Minasi, Stefano Montanari, George Petrou, and Enrico Onofri to the podium. Since 2018, the ensemble has also collaborated closely with Francesco Corti. Il Pomo d’Oro has performed at the Opéra Royal in Versailles, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Theater an der Wien, the Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall in London, and the Handel Festivals in Göttingen and Halle. Since 2015, the ensemble has accompanied mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato on various programs, including In War and Peace, which won an Echo Klassik Award. It has released complete recordings of Handel’s Agrippina, Serse, Tamerlano, Partenope, and Ottone and also recorded Stradella’s La Doriclea and Vinci’s Catone in Utica. The countertenors Franco Fagioli, Jakub Józef Orliński, Max Emanuel Cencic, and Xavier Sabata are featured on solo albums. In 2023, Il Pomo d’Oro performed Handel’s Tolomeo, toured with the tenor Michael Spyres, and accompanied Joyce DiDonato on her Eden project to many European cities.

July 2023