Gesualdo Edition & Monteverdi Editon - Claudio Cavina & La Venexiana

About La Venexiana
The name La Venexiana is taken from an anonymous Renaissance comedy, one of the cardinal points of reference in Italian theatre both for its use of language, a combination of Italian and dialect, and for its acute rendering of a society and its manners. In styling itself after this glorious tradition, La Venexiana aims to incorporate into its musical interpretations an attention to language in all of its subtlety, and an exultation of contrasts between the refined and the popular, the sacred and the profane. This ensemble has established a new style in Italian early music performance: a warm, truly Mediterranean blend of textual declamation, rhetorical colour and harmonic refinement. Born of the collaboration between soprano Rossana Bertini and countertenor Claudio Cavina, its current musical director, La Venexiana makes a careful use of the original sources, keeping the activity of the ensemble always stimulating and full of enjoyable surprises. Since 1998, La Venexiana records exclusively for Glossa. After seven years with the label, the musical press is unanimous in considering La Venexiana as the world’s leading specialists in Italian Madrigal. A fact amply demonstrated by the amount of international awards that the group has amassed in this short period.



About Carlo Gesualdo
Carlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo da Venosa, Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian music composer, lutenist and nobleman of the late Renaissance. He is famous for his intensely expressive madrigals, which use a chromatic language not heard again until the 19th century; and also for committing what are amongst the most notorious murders in musical history.

About Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer. His work marks the transition from Renaissance to Baroque music, and during his long life he produced works that can be classified in both categories. Monteverdi has been regarded as a revolutionary who brought about change in musical style. He wrote one of the earliest operas, Orfeo, which is the also the earliest opera to remain dramatically viable by modern standards and is still regularly staged today. He was fortunate enough to enjoy fame during his lifetime.