The last traces of the presence of the great Cecilia Bartoli at the Gran Teatre del Liceu date back to the 1990/91 and 1993/94 seasons respectively, when she appeared in five performances of the opera Il barbiere di Siviglia and gave a recital accompanied by György Fischer. The wait has been far too long and it is with great satisfaction that we welcome Cecilia Bartoli back to the Liceu for this splendid return visit.

The empathy between Cecilia Bartoli and Les Musiciens du Prince is obvious on stage: the idea of founding this period instrument ensemble in 2016 was hers and she is its artistic director.

Bartoli prepares a new programme for every performance because she enjoys developing her programmes as much as she enjoys singing them. This one, dedicated to Farinelli and his time, reveals a new facet of her ever-renewed talent, which she reveals on stage in the light-hearted manner we know so well.

That Carlo Broschi, better known as Farinelli (1705-1782), was a highly popular singer is shown by the wealth of wonderfully enthusiastic eye-witness accounts and tributes which have come down to us. A riding accident was apparently the reason used to justify his castration and he completed his studies with Porpora. Thus this archetype of the castrato, who was to give rise to countless artistic fantasies, was born. After triumphing in Munich and London, he became a legend at the court of Philip V of Spain. The King was passionately fond of Farinelli's voice, which was the only cure for his morbid melancholy, and every evening for nine years, according to the chroniclers, Farinelli had to sing the same five arias by Hasse, Ariosti and Giacomelli. In time he also became an important counsellor to the King.

This fascinating tale was the starting point for the research that went into the programme Cecilia Bartoli is to present at the Liceu, in which she invites us to enjoy the acrobatics and depth, the intensity, subtlety and shades of meaning of her unforgettable voice. Welcome home, Cecilia!

Sponsored by:

Les Musiciens du Prince-Monaco

Violin I
Enrico Casazza*
Ágnes Kertész
Francesco Colletti
Roberto Rutkauskas
Muriel Quistad
Anna Urpina Rius

Violin II
Chiara Zanisi*
Svetlana Fomina
Gian Andrea Guerra
Laura Cavazzuti
Nicolas Mazzoleni

Viola
Diego Mecca*
Erica Alberti
Paola Matacena
Bernadette Verhagen

Cello
Marco Frezzato*
Nicola Brovelli
Guillaume Francois
Antonio Carlo Papetti

Counterbass
Roberto Fernández De Larrinoa*
Maria Vahervuo

Oboe
Pier Luigi Fabretti*

Flute
Jean-Marc Goujon*

Tiorba
Miguel Rincon Rodriguez

Trumpet
Thibaud Robinne*

Harpsichord 
Davide Pozzi

Bassoon
Elena Bianchi

Percussion
Paolo Nocentini

*Soloist