Not exactly a standard work in the repertoire, Mozart´s two-act serenata from 1775 (he was 19) Il re pastore, libretto by Metastasio and previously used by several other composers, such as Gluck. A story including the usual ingredients of fidelity, love and a benevolent ruler, whose element of rigid opera seria are emphasized by director-and-conductor Thomas Hengelbrock in this stylized set-up.
Claudio Monteverdi's operatic adaptation of this story from Homer's The Odyssey receives a modern and distinctive staging in this 2002 production directed by Humphrey Burton for Les Arts Florissants. Penelope Marijana Mijanovic is left to her own devices when her husband, the heroic Ulysses Kresimir Spicer, goes off to fight in the Trojan Wars. After many years alone, Penelope finds herself attracting a number of suitors who wish to claim her hand; however, what she doesn't realize is that jealous Ulysses has his ways of keeping an eye on her. Production of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence; from the Theatre du Jeu de Paume.
