The premiere of Italy: Love and Harmony, a concert of early Baroque vocal and instrumental chamber music, will take place on May 17 and 18. The show will feature the Minstrels ensemble and musicians from the orchestra of the Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre.

The early Baroque era spans the late 16th to mid-17th centuries—a time of William Shakespeare and Torquato Tasso in literature, Rubens and Caravaggio in painting, Frescobaldi and Monteverdi in music. It was also the golden age of the madrigal, a musical and poetic genre that combined refined verse with delicate instrumental textures and graceful vocal lines. This period—early 17th century—in Italy saw the birth of opera, rooted in the madrigal tradition.

The Minstrels vocal ensemble composed of soloists from the Krasnoyarsk opera company, was formed in autumn 2024.  Initially focused on Soviet-era popular songs arranged for multiple voices, the ensemble now turns to some of the finest examples of early Italian music. Their new programme features madrigals by Claudio Monteverdi, canzonas by Girolamo Frescobaldi, arias by Giulio Caccini, and sacred works by these masters. The concert will also include excerpts from Monteverdi’s L'Incoronazione di Poppea and Marco Antonio Cesti’s Orontea, as well as Un dì Soletto by Jacopo Peri—the “father of opera,” best known for Euridice (1600), the earliest surviving opera.

The ensemble’s lineup includes Aliona Zafran, Angelina Zhitina, Olga Monastyrshina, Elena Nikutina, Larisa Plotnikova, Anna Kharitonova, Eugeny Baldanov, Alexander Mikhaliov, Kirill Pankevich. They’ll be accompanied by an instrumental group featuring Dmitri Kosolapov and Lidia Savyuk (violins), Yekaterina Kononova (cello), Svetlana Mikhaliova (harpsichord), and Aliona Saaya (percussion).