Raffaele Pe and La Lira di Orfeo star in a new production directed by Ilaria Lanzino

At the MusikTheater an der Wien, May 6-17, 2025

It’s not Hamlet, and it’s not Shakespeare. It’s Ambleto — the very first opera in music history to tell the story of the Danish prince — brought to Vienna with an unexpected ending that celebrates the central role of female figures. This symbolic choice lies at the heart of the new production of Ambleto, the Baroque masterpiece by Francesco Gasparini, on stage at the MusikTheater an der Wien from May 6 to 17, 2025.

Countertenor Raffaele Pe, together with his ensemble La Lira di Orfeo and stage director Ilaria Lanzino, reinterpret this work with powerful scenic and musical vision: a “theatrical suite” in which the surviving music of Gasparini interacts with a newly imagined dramaturgy.

When Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati wrote the libretto in 1712, Shakespeare’s Hamlet had not yet arrived in Venice. Their source was Gesta Danorum by Saxo Grammaticus, the medieval Scandinavian chronicle from which Shakespeare himself had drawn inspiration. Gasparini — a Tuscan composer trained in Rome under Arcangelo Corelli and teacher of Domenico Scarlatti — wrote Ambleto for the famous castrato Nicolino, a celebrated star of the London stage. The opera premiered to great public acclaim at the Queen’s Theatre in Haymarket, London.

However, the score that has come down to us is incomplete: the arias remain — showcasing a virtuosic and theatrical vocal style — but the recitatives, essential for narrating the action, are missing.

«For Vienna, we approached this project with respect for historical performance practice but with a deeply contemporary awareness – explains Pe. Ambleto represents one possible way of imagining the performance of early music repertoire that often survives in fragmentary form. We didn’t want this marvellous music to remain unheard simply because part of its narrative body was lost. We chose to let it resound again, building an original yet philologically respectful journey, in tune with the musical and theatrical thinking of its time».

Without a conductor — as was common practice in the period — but under the musical direction of Raffaele Pe and concertmaster Elisa Citterio, La Lira di Orfeo returns to the MusikTheater an der Wien after its recent success with Handel’s Rodelinda.

On stage alongside Raffaele Pe in the role of Amleto is a cast of leading Baroque specialists: Miklós Sebestyén (Claudius), Ana Maria Labin (Gertrude), Erika Baikoff (Ophelia), Nikolay Borchev (Polonius), and Maayan Licht (Laertes). The production is directed by Ilaria Lanzino, who also worked on the new dramaturgy with Pe. Sets are by Martin Hickmann, costumes by Vanessa Rust, lighting by Anselm Fischer, sound design by Rupert Derschmidt, with dramaturgical consultancy by Christian Schröder.

Thus, Ambleto is not merely a rediscovered rarity, but a vibrant example of how early music can become living material — capable of questioning the present through a dialogue between historical practice and contemporary languages.

Photo credits: La lira di Orfeo ©Noah Shaye