New York Baroque Incorporated (NYBI) returns to Trinity Wall Street on Thursday, June 1, 2017, closing its memorable season with panache, giving the American premiere performance of the oratorio Santa Rosalia by 17th century Palermitano composer Bonaventura Aliotti.

Saint Rosalia is the patron saint of Palermo. It is said that her remains miraculously cured its residents who were afflicted by the plague of 1624. Ever since, the city has celebrated with an annual festival in July. Wanting to ensure that each event would be a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, the original organizers would have the music written for the Saint Rosalia festivities destroyed after the initial performance. Thanks to a repeat performance in Modena the year following its 1687 premiere, Santa Rosalia by the Palermo-born Franciscan friar Aliotti survives.

A clean manuscript of Aliotti’s 1688 Santa Rosalia exists thanks to the patronage of the influential 17th-century Este dynasty and the preservation of its substantial collection. From this manuscript, NYBI concert master Lorenzo Colitto has constructed a modern performing edition. Perusal copies of the score are available to reviewers, along with Colitto’s English translation of the libretto.

Aliotti’s Santa Rosalia is a “Dialogo Sacro” (sacred dialogue) concerning the life of “La Santuzza” (The Little Saint) as she is also known, from the renunciation of her upbringing in a noble Norman family to her religious devotion and eventual hermitage. The libretto intermingles allegorical and historical references through the characters Ambizione (Ambition), Lucifero (Lucifer), Penitenza (Penance) and Senso (Sense), as well as Rosalia’s parents, the 12th century cave Quisquina to which she first retreated, and the crown of roses placed upon her by Maria which sealed her beatific fate.

Dutch soprano Johannette Zomer will sing the title role, with soprano Molly Netter portraying Penitenza and Maria Santissima, mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney representing Ambizione, tenor Owen McIntosh as Senso and bass-baritone Dashon Burton as Lucifero.

Collaborating with Colitto, NYBI and the singers, stage director Marc Verzatt will work with the singers’ characters to humanize the drama and bring to life Saint Rosalia’s story of inner conflict which she ultimately resolves.

Santa Rosalia, which lasts approximately 90 minutes, will be performed in two parts with one intermission. A pre-concert talk will be hosted by former WQXR presenter David Garland in conversation with Lorenzo Colitto.

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For further information about New York Baroque Incorporated please visit http://www.nybaroque.org

For further information, image or interview requests please contact Melanne Mueller, MusicCo International, +1 917 907 2785, melanne@musiccointernational.com  

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Thursday, June 1, 2017 – 8:00 pm (pre-concert talk at 7:30 pm)
Bonaventura Aliotti (1640 – 1690) Santa Rosalia (1688)
New York Baroque Incorporated
with
Johannette Zomer soprano – Santa Rosalia
Molly Netter soprano – Penitenza / Maria Santissima
Owen McIntosh tenor – Senso
Dashon Burton bass-baritone – Lucifero
Kate Maroney mezzo-soprano – Ambizione
Lorenzo Colitto music director
Marc Verzatt stage director

Trinity Church Wall Street
75 Broadway
New York, NY 10006