This is the world-premiere recording of L’Oracolo in Messenia, an opera prepared by Vivaldi for Vienna and now reconstructed by Fabio Biondi. He leads this triumphant performance which opened the 2011 Resonanzen festival in the Austrian capital with a high-powered cast including Ann Hallenberg, Vivica Genaux and rising soprano Julia Lezhneva.

For this recording of L’Oracolo in Messenia, an opera Vivaldi revised for Vienna in 1740 after its premiere in 1738 in Venice, Vivaldi expert Fabio Biondi has reconstructed the work from a number of sources – notably a libretto recently discovered in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, and scores by Vivaldi himself and his contemporaries Giacomelli, Hasse and Broschi. This musicological feat follows the example Biondi set with two other Vivaldi operas recorded for Virgin Classics - Bajazet and Ercole sul Termodonte.

Vivaldi hoped for performances of the work in Vienna during Carnival in 1741, but in October 1740 the Austrian Emperor, Charles VI, died suddenly and Austria’s theatres were closed for a year of mourning, so Vivaldi’s plans came to nothing and he himself died in Vienna in 1741, alone and poor. L’ Oracolo in Messenia was finally staged in the city in 1742 at the city’s Kärntnertor Theatre, starring Anna Girò, Vivaldi’s favourite prima donna, as Queen Merope.

Appropriately enough, this recording was made in Vienna, and it has an impressive cast. It captures the opening performance of the 20th season of the prestigious Resonanzen festival of early music, which takes place at the city’s Konzerthaus. Fabio Biondi leads his own ensemble, Europa Galante, from the violin.

The performance was greeted with a standing ovation and the media were lavish in their praise. Indeed, the Wiener Zeitung said that: “the festival could not have launched its 20th anniversary in more triumphant fashion”.


“The opening night [of the festival] turned out to be a great Viennese celebration of Vivaldi – above all thanks to Biondi, who, with violin in hand, led the hand-picked players of Europa Galante in a colourful, buoyant, vivid and ceaselessly supple performance.” - Die Presse

“An exquisite line-up of singers … the powerful, trumpeting mezzo of Ann Hallenberg … Vivica Genaux, lavishly deploying her vocal splendour on lyrical music; the distinctively coloured alto of Romina Basso … the special virtuosity of Julia Lezhneva with her almost bird-like fluency.” - Die Presse

“The evening proved a resounding success: the orchestra depicting states of mind with finesse, nobility of sound and elegance, while the singers constituted a closely-knit ensemble of impressive unity and achievement.” - Kronen Zeitung

“The discovery of the evening was the young Russian Julia Lezhneva as Trasimede, who sang the breakneck coloratura with sensational facility and impressed throughout both as a technician and as an interpreter – as did Ann Hallenberg and the young Franziska Gottwald. Vivica Genaux and Romina Basso were both exceptional and the tenor Magnus Staveland and countertenor Xavier Sabata sang with passion. Fabio Biondi and Europa Galante played supremely.” - Kurier

“The opera contains a string of original and breathtaking bravura arias.” - Der Standard

“A string of brilliant arias [in which] no less than five stunning female singers gave an overwhelming display of vocal brilliance.” - Wiener Zeitung

“Fabio Biondi is a master bringing these operas to life … Europa Galante played, as ever, on the highest level … The international line-up of singers was of the same quality.” - Der Neue Merker