Il canto di Orfeo (I)

Il canto d’Orfeo is an Italian vocal and instrumental ensemble founded and directed by Gianluca Capuano, established with the aim of approaching the sacred and theatrical repertoire between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods through a historically informed yet thoroughly vital approach. The lineup varies according to the programs, bringing together singers and instrumentalists specialized in early music practice, using period instruments or faithful replicas, with a particular focus on textual rhetoric, prosody, and the relationship between the spoken word and the musical gesture. The name evokes the figure of Orpheus as the archetype of the power of the voice and song, perfectly summarizing the centrality of the vocal dimension in the ensemble’s work.
Il canto d’Orfeo performs oratorios, sacred dramas, motets, masses, and instrumental pieces, often in dialogue with the liturgical spaces for which this music was originally conceived. The ensemble rigorously attends to textual articulation, dynamics, and vocal color, avoiding both a ‘museum-like’ neutrality and generic emphasis. In projects dedicated to composers such as Monteverdi, Cavalli, and Carissimi, as well as less frequently performed repertoires, a clear artistic direction emerges: to bring back to light the dramatic and spiritual force of these works, making it felt that early sacred music is, even today, a language capable of directly touching the contemporary listener.