Cappella Mediterranea

Cappella Mediterranea was founded in 2005 by Swiss-Argentinean conductor Leonardo García Alarcón. The ensemble originally had a passion for the music of the Mediterranean basin and intended to offer a different approach to Latin Baroque music. After ten years, Cappella Mediterranea’s repertoire diversified. Giving more than 45 concerts a year, the ensemble explores the madrigal, the polyphonic motet, opera and other genres. It has made a name for itself through the rediscovery of various unpublished works, including Michelangelo Falvetti’s oratorios Il diluvio universale and Nabucco, but also offers new versions of established works, including Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine and Orfeo, which the ensemble performed in Saint-Denis and on tour through Europe and Latin America. That same year its performance of Bach’s Mass in B minor inaugurated the 20th edition of the Lausanne Bach Festival.

Over recent years, the ensemble has been involved in a number of operatic projects, including five productions of the Grand Théâtre de Genève: Alcina in 2016, Cavalli’s Il Giasone in 2017, Purcell’s King Arthur in 2018 and Charpentier’s Médée and Rameau’s Les Indes galantes in 2019. It performed Cavalli’s Eliogabalo at the Paris Opéra in 2016 and the Dutch National Opera in 2017 and Cavalli’s Erismena at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Versailles in 2017 and in Luxembourg in 2019. In 2018 Cappella Mediterranea became ensemble in residence at the Opéra de Dijon, where it was heard in works such as Antonio Draghi’s El Prometeo and Francesco Sacrati’s La finta pazza. In 2019 the ensemble performed Les Indes galantes at the Paris Opéra, marking the 30th anniversary of the Opéra Bastille and the 350th anniversary of the Académie Royale de Musique.

Cappella Mediterranea has a discography of more than 30 recordings, including an album with excerpts from Monteverdi operas, I 7 peccati capitali (Alpha Classics), which was nominated for the 2017 Victoires de la Musique classique. Joan Manuel Serrat’s De vez en cuando la vida and music by Jacques Arcadelt were released in 2018, followed by Il Giasone on DVD in 2019 and El Prometeo on CD in 2020.

Cappella Mediterranea is supported by the Ministry of Culture – DRAC Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region, the City of Geneva, a Swiss family foundation, a private Geneva foundation and by a circle of friends and a circle of business owners composed of Quinten, Synapsys and the architect François Chatillon.

Cappella Mediterranea is a member of the Federation of Specialized Vocal and Instrumental Ensembles (FEVIS) and of Le Bureau Export.