I Fagiolini: 'Betrayal' at the Barbican

16 January 2014

We are delighted to unveil Betrayal: A Polyphonic Crime Drama. In another daring and innovative collaboration, vocal ensemble I Fagiolini and director John La Bouchardière reunite for the long-awaited follow-up to their highly successful show The Full Monteverdi.

Fusing voices with contemporary dance, Betrayal is an immersive dramatisation of intense and unsettling music by Carlo Gesualdo, the Italian Renaissance composer whose radical harmonic experiments were unsurpassed until hundreds of years later, and whose brutal killing of his unfaithful wife and her lover made him one of the most notorious figures in classical music. Set in the stark warehouse environment of Shoreditch’s Village Underground, Betrayal investigates what could drive someone to such extremes.

Betrayal features in the Barbican’s newly announced 14/15 Baroque programme as part of an overall theme examining love and intrigue, war and betrayal. Performances will take place from 13-15 May 2015 at Village Underground. Tickets go on sale to the general public on 10 February (and to Barbican subscribers from 27 January). More information on the show and the Barbican’s 14/15 classical programme can be found here.

“An unforgettable evening”
The Guardian on The Full Monteverdi

‘’Music-theatre doesn’t come more visceral than this.”
The Independent on The Full Monteverdi