William Christie leads Les Arts Florissants, the ensemble he founded in 1979, in two works for Holy Week. Giacomo Antonio Perti, born in Bologna in 1661, was in his late teens when he composed the first of his many oratorios. Oratorio della Passione, created in 1685 and revised several times thereafter, paints a vivid, deeply moving portrait of the scene at Jesus's tomb, while Luigi Rossi's Oratorio per la Settimana Santa is a dramatic blend of recitative, instrumental interludes and choral numbers that projects the Passion story's overwhelming human emotions.

Programme:

Giacomo Antonio Perti Oratorio della Passione
Luigi Rossi Oratorio per la Settimana Santa

Performers:

Lucía Martín-Cartón, Ana Quintans sopranos
Théo Imart countertenor
Jacob Lawrence tenor
Giacomo Nanni bass-baritone
Luigi De Donato bass
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie director, harpsichord, organ