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About
The Ensemble Cappella Mediterranea was founded in 2005 by Leonardo Garcia Alarcón. As indicated by his name, this ensemble is originally impassioned by the music’s of the Mediterranean basin, and intends to propose another approach of the Latin Baroque music.
10 years later, the repertory of Cappella Mediterranea considerably widened. With more than 45 concerts per year, the ensemble explores, amongst others, the madrigal, the polyphonic motet and opera. A mixt which gives a very particular style, pervaded by a rare complicity between the director and his musicians. The enthusiastic encounters of Cappella Mediterranea with some neglected scores, its original reading of the repertory, its concerts mixed with theatre and dance and it’s recordings are highly regarded. The success in 2010 of Il Diluvio Universale by Michelangelo Falvetti was an outstanding moment. It widened considerably the audience of the ensemble and of Leonardo García Alarcón.
Cappella Mediterranea performs in prestigious venues and festivals: Ambronay, Festival of Saint Denis near Paris, Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, the Château de Versailles, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall in New-York, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires…The list is endless.
Cappella Mediterranea won great acclaim in 2013 at the opera Festival of Aix-en-Provence with Cavalli’s opera Elena. Since then, Cappella Mediterranea is considered as one of the main ensemble for opera productions. Opera projects have followed one another in recent years: Handel's Alcina in 2016, Cavalli’s Il Giasone in 2017 and Purcell’s King Arthur in 2018 at the Opéra des Nations with the Grand Théâtre de Genève before Medea and the Indes Galantes at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, recently restored in 2019. In 2016, Cappella introduced Cavalli to the repertory of the National Opera of Paris at the Palais Garnier with Eliogabalo, which was also given at the Opera of Amsterdam in 2017. In 2018 the ensemble entered the Residence at the Dijon Opera House for several seasons with a series of unpublished works such as Draghi's El Prometeo or Francesco Sacrati's in june 2018 and La finta pazza in February 2019.
In 2019 the ensemble is also invited to celebrate a double anniversary at the Paris Opera with Les Indes Galantes of Rameau at the Opéra Bastille on the occasion of the building's 30th anniversary but especially on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Music.
The discography of Cappella Mediterranea includes around twenty titles on various labels: Ricercar, Naïve, Ambronay Editions and Alpha Classics.
Sogno Barocco with Anne Sofie Von Otter was nominated for the Grammy Awards 2013 in Los Angeles. I 7 Peccati Capitali was nominated in the «best recording category» for “Les Victoires de la Musique” 2017. The last recordings from 2018 are Lettera amorosa - Monteverdi a voce sola, a rediscovery of Jacques Arcadelt’s Madrigals who received a « Diapason d’or » and De vez en Cuando la vida, Joan Manuel Serrat y el siglo de oro. The production of Cavalli’s Giasone from Geneva was released on DVD in February 2019.
The ensemble Cappella Mediterranea receives support from the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication- DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes,
the city of Geneva, and a private foundation in Geneva.
Cappella Mediterranea is member of the Fevis and the Bureau export.