Julia Lezhneva & Franco Fagioli

Nicola Antonio Porpora was born in 1686 in a poor quarter of Naples, where he also died in 1768 – likewise in utter poverty. In the years between, he advanced to become one of the most influential exponents of the Italian opera seria, working from his home city at first in centres like Rome and Venice and vying with Leonardo Vinci for the rank of the most important Italian composer of the age. In 1733 he was called to London as a rival to George Frideric Handel and to intrigue against his operatic empire.

Besides working as a composer, Porpora was famed especially as an intimidating singing teacher, who, although he used to maltreat his pupils, was able to bring out the best in them. Among his pupils were castrato stars – some of whom are still famous today – including Farinello, Caffarelli and Antonio Uberti, who took the stage name of Porporino as homage to his teacher. Porpora’s music was extremely popular among the singers of his era; as a singing teacher and connoisseur of voices he responded in his operas to the specific qualities of the relevant cast, flattered the singers’ voices and whipped their vocal skills to attain the maximum of achievement. The Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva and the Argentinian countertenor Franco Fagioli evoke the profound feelings of Porpora’s arias to resound in altissimo, with beauty of tone and technical brilliance.

With duets and arias from Nicola Antonio Porpora’s operas Polifemo and Carlo il Calvo