Our new production, in partnership with Oper Halle, brings Monteverdi's Poppea to life.

It will be created by director Walter Sutcliffe and designer Jon Bausor, the team whose brilliant Agrippina at The Grange Festival in 2018 caused such a stir.

Love conquers all in ancient Rome. The baddies win, the goodies are banished or killed. Social advancement and power politics govern Monteverdi’s soap opera: the first great work of baroque musical theatre. A stellar international cast includes the return to The Grange Festival of Italian stars Anna Bonitatibus (Il ritorno d’Ulisse and Agrippina) as the rejected empress Ottavia, and Raffaele Pe (Agrippina and Tamerlano) as Nero. Another Grange Festival favourite, Kitty Whately, is Poppea. And we welcome acclaimed American counter-tenor Christopher Lowery as Ottone, New Zealand Bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu as Seneca and the popular German soprano Vanessa Waldhart as Drusilla. The groundbreaking instrumental ensemble La Nuova Musica is led by David Bates.

The performance will be sung in Italian.