Credits:

Fabio Biondi

Description:

Hercules Reborn! Vivaldi Performed by an Overwhelming Cast Featuring Villazn, Didonato, and OthersJust like the mythical Hercules, this is Villazns first opera recorded in a studio session. The production features a star-studded cast of todays top opera singers. Hercules is an opera by Vivaldi that premiered in 1723, when he was 45 years old. He took a gamble by staging the premiere in Rome rather than in his home region of Veneto, and the work is said to have had a revolutionary impact and great success on the opera style in Rome at the time. Thermodonte refers to the mythical Thermodon Rivernow known as the Termes River in northern Turkeyand the opera tells the story of Hercules, who is tasked with stealing a belt from Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Although only the sheet music for seven arias survives today, Biondi reconstructed the work by referring to the libretto from the premiere and