Cavalli: La Calisto A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

This special adaptation of La Calisto, the work of Venetian composer Pier Francesco Cavalli, was presented one year ago, at the exam performance of the students of the Opera Programme at the Liszt Academy. What makes the production of this seldom performed piece unique is that it was arranged for a chamber orchestra by the students of the Academy’s Composition Programme. András Almási-Tóth, the director of the original production, said: “I chose Cavalli’s piece because it allows its performers to try and learn the most important things necessary for an opera production. A kind of dramatic or theatrical frame of mind, for instance. La Calisto is an early work, with lots of recitativo, so you can’t be lost in it, let the music carry you. You must concentrate on the text, and have a stage presence. Since we perform it in Italian, you must understand the situation to be performed, and communicate it to the audience so that the story can come to life on the stage. Cavalli’s own manuscript includes a voice part and a continuo, with two additional violins in the arias. An orchestra in his time would improvise, because opera was a living, theatrical genre. We thought we could really bring this piece to life if we asked young people, the students of the Academy’s Composition Programme, to do the arrangement.”