Steffani: Niobe

AGOSTINO STEFFANI

NIOBE, REGINA DI TEBE

Drama in three acts

LUKAS HEMLEB Stage Direction
VÉRONIQUE GENS Niobe
JACEK LASZCZKOWSKI Anfione
DELPHINE GALOU Nerea
IESTYN DAVIES Creonte
TIM MEAD Clearte
LOTHAR ODINIUS Tiberino
AMANDA FORSYTHE Manto
BRUNO TADDIA Tiresias
ALASTAIR MILES Poliferno

BALTHASAR NEUMANN ENSEMBLE
THOMAS HENGELBROCK

Publication: Royal Opera House | 2015

The world-famous court composer during his lifetime, Agostino Steffani was also a significant influence on the likes of Handel, J.S. Bach and Telemann, but his music fell into neglect after his death. Thanks to conductor and Baroque specialist Thomas Hengelbrock, Steffani’s musically rich and emotionally intense fifth opera “Niobe, Regina di Tebe” was revived in 2008, and is heard here in The Royal Opera’s acclaimed 2010 production. With a ‘delectable’ and ‘seductive’ performance from Véronique Gens as the proud queen who is punished for defying the gods, supported by male soprano Jacek Laszczkowski, who ‘thrills with his astonishing power at the top of the voice … [giving] an exciting approximation of what the castrato could do’ (Independent), this recording does full justice to Steffani’s forgotten masterpiece.