Aedes explores the works of Monteverdi, inventing a new plot based around his famous Lamento d’Arianna which depicts the tragic love story of Theseus and Ariadne.

Universally acclaimed as one of the jewels of the vocal repertoire, the Lamento d’Arianna is the only fragment we still have of Monteverdi’s second opera L’Arianna, the original score having been lost over the centuries. It was apparently the central element of this opera, composed in 1608 and much performed until it disappeared. Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos after she helped him kill the Minotaur, laments her lost love in a moving plaint which presages her death – or her deliverance, the myth having various endings.

In this programme, which exploits the riches Monteverdi’s madrigals as well as the ensemble’s own favourites (Britten’s Sacred and Profane, Ligeti’s Night, and works by Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur and Frank Martin), Mathieu Romano gives us a modern interpretation of Theseus and Ariadne’s relationship. The works selected enable us to hear the voices of the two lovers in turn, and in dialogue, their respective emotions pointed up by the lighting of this show. As the enchantment, doubt and pain of this passionate dialogue culminate, the heroine discovers the idea of revenge: Theseus pays for his betrayal, falling victim to Ariadne’s curse.