The leitmotif of the concert on 14 February cannot be other than love, and NFF Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra will show us its various aspects. Mezzo-soprano Hélène Delalande joins the chamber players to present famous Baroque arias. Their plots are usually based on A loving B, B loving C, C loving D and, sadly, D loving A. Dress-ups are, of course, mandatory(gentleman disguised as lady, or vice versa), somebody eavesdropped on somebody else, but misunderstood the overheard words, and the whole plot was made a mess by a servant, who not only revealed the secret, but also messed-up facts and intentions. For example the story of the Persian king Xerxes narrated in Handel’s opera is mostly about his rivalry with his brother for the favours of Romilda and (in)ability to tackle with the anger of his rejected fiancée and other ladies who took a fancy to the Persian heir apparent.
Love with the backdrop of well-known historical and mythical events can be also found in Vivaldi’s Bajazet and Haydn’s Ariadne auf Naxos, the latter themed around the myth of Ariadne and Theseus. Schumann’s Cello Concerto in A Minor in the masterful interpretation of Anthony Leroy will surely give you a respite from all the romance, flirting and intrigues