Jan Decorte - B'Rock & Bloet

Following his successful production of the opera 'Dido & Aeneas' in 2008, Jan Decorte has once again been inspired by the English composer Henry Purcell. This time Decorte will stage a contemporary musical-theatre production based on 'The Indian Queen'. The story is set in Mexico and Peru before the Spanish invasion. Queen Zempoalla is the 'Indian Queen' who falls in love with General Montezuma after she has waged battle with him and his Peruvian forces. The libretto is a tangle of court intrigues, wars and rivalry in love. In Purcell's original work, the songs are alternated with spoken and danced passages. However, during the course of its performance history the words have moved into the background. As a consequence, the music dominates and the libretto has disintegrated into fragments without any clear connection. As in 'Dido & Aeneas', Jan Decorte is once again working with the Flemish baroque ensemble B'Rock. This orchestra, conducted by Frank Agsteribbe, also functions as a chorus and thus offers dual support to the four singer-soloists, both instrumentally and vocally. Decorte's penchant for an almost primitive simplicity fits in extremely well with the tender charm of this early English semi-opera.