Opening night will feature music by Venetian composer Claudio Monteverdi, and the program will be centred around the dramatic “Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda”. The piece is based on a libretto by Tasso and describes the fight of Tancredi and Clorinda, star-crossed lovers who fight each other to the death without realizing each other’s true identity. It is fully orchestrated and effectively written (in stile concitato) to represent the sound of swords clashing, horseback riding, and fully expressing the anger, sorrow, and regret in this story. The piece was first performed during the carnival season of 1624, when it was semi-staged at the palace of a Venetian nobleman. Monteverdi wrote that music had long been able to depict the emotions of love, but it needed a new language in order to truly express the more agitated emotions of anger and the violence of war. The level of detail in Monteverdi’s instructions about how to perform this piece is unprecedented for his time. Several madrigals, including the spectacular Lamento della Nynfa, Zefiro Torna, and Ballo will also be on the program. Musicians: Jolaine Kerley, soprano Dawn Bailey, soprano Timothy Schantz, tenor Kerry Bursey, tenor, lute Noémy Gagnon-Lafrenais, violin Laura Veeze, violin Josephine van Lier, violone Lucas Harris, theorbo Jonathan Stuchbery, theorbo, tenor Kerry Bursey, lute, tenor Christopher Bagan, historical keyboards