Academy artistic director Jeremy Rhizor describes the journey from the composer’s manuscript to the modern premiere of a forgotten oratorio. Materials including the composer’s manuscript, the printed libretto, the rehearsal schedule, and recorded excerpts will be shared with our online audience.
La vittima d’amore, osia La morte di Cristo (1690)
composer: Antonio Gianettini* (1648–1721)
librettist: Francesco Torti (1658–1741)
Jeremy Rhizor is one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the Baroque oratorio repertoire and is the driving force for its revival in the United States. Along with reviving the music of oratorios, Rhizor has reconstructed the format of oratorio performances by retaining the lecture or sermon between musical halves in large-scale two-part oratorios. As the founder and artistic director of the Academy of Sacred Drama, Rhizor built an organization inspired by Baroque academies into an institution that champions the performance and research of sacred drama. Noted for playing “virtuosically but with fluid grace” by The New York Times, Rhizor is a core member of Aureas Voces in Nova Scotia and performs with early music ensembles throughout North America on the violin. He will be the guest concertmaster of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra for a Naxos Records recording in the 2020–2021 season. Rhizor lives in White Plains, NY.