Watch La Partenope

Parthenope "with the maiden face" was one of the three sirens defeated by Ulysses, whose body washed ashore in the spot where Naples was founded. Or was she the Greek princess of this libretto, who founded a city that took her name and successfully defended it against the neighbouring Cumaeans. Set to music by a number of composers - such as Caldara, Hasse, Sarro, Handel, and Vivaldi - the myth of Parthenope was very popular and known in as many as sixteen different versions. Neapolitans, even today, call themselves "partenopei", "children of Parthenope". A rich and colourful production, entrusted to world-renowned specialists of the Baroque repertoire. The opera has had to wait almost three centuries before its rediscovery by Antonio Florio and his Turchini orchestra. Their version, for the first time in the history of the recent Early Opera Revival, has reconstructed the scenes, ballets and even the battles of the 18th-century representations. If in 1725 the first performance of Vinci's Partenope/Rosmira coincided with the death of the librettist Stampiglia and of Alessandro Scarlatti, in 1730, year of Vinci's death, Handel would stage his own Partenope, an homage to an Italian colleague he most admired and to the city of the musical siren.

Founded in 1987 by Antonio Florio, the ensemble I Turchini is made up of instrumentalists and singers living and working in Naples who specialize in the performance of Neapolitan music from the 17th and 18th centuries and in the rediscovery of music by highly-gifted composers who are now largely unknown. The unique programmes and rigorous approach to Baroque performing practices make I Turchini one of the most interesting ensembles in current European musical life.

In recent years his performing activities have included directing La Partenope by Leonardo Vinci, which visited the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples as well as opera houses and auditoria in Spain (Ponferrada, León, Sevilla, La Co