Mozart - Ascanio in Alba - Les Talens Lyriques - Theater an der Wien
10 March 2026, 21:00While we were in Vienna performing Florian Leopold Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria, Les Talens Lyriques also gave a concert (i.e. un-staged) performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba (K. 111), a work written for the wedding of the son of Empress Maria Theresa in 1771. We performed the opera on stage at the Theater an der Wien, where we have been in residence for a few weeks already.
The performance, which took place on 10 March 2026, was directed by Christophe Rousset and featured brilliant vocalists including Mélissa Petit (Venere), Alisa Kolosova (Ascanio), Anna El Khashem (Silvia), Alasdair Kent (Aceste), and Eleonora Bellocci (Fauno); the chorus was the Vienna-based Arnold Schönberg Chor. The orchestration was much the same as for L’Opera Seria, however this work featured four horns: Jeroen Billiet and Yannick Maillet played first and second horn, respectively, and the third and fourth horn players, Alexandra Zanetta and Mariantonia Riezu also played serpentini—as the name suggests small serpents, with finger holes along the S shaped wooden body of these instruments.
My wife, visiting from the UK, listened from a box in the theatre. She will also be coming to the finale of Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria on 11 March 2026, after enjoying many of the delights of Vienna!
A week after returning from Vienna, we will be making a CD recording of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba in Paris and performing it again at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (25 March 2026) and at the Opéra de Lausanne in Switzerland (29 March 2026).
The performance, which took place on 10 March 2026, was directed by Christophe Rousset and featured brilliant vocalists including Mélissa Petit (Venere), Alisa Kolosova (Ascanio), Anna El Khashem (Silvia), Alasdair Kent (Aceste), and Eleonora Bellocci (Fauno); the chorus was the Vienna-based Arnold Schönberg Chor. The orchestration was much the same as for L’Opera Seria, however this work featured four horns: Jeroen Billiet and Yannick Maillet played first and second horn, respectively, and the third and fourth horn players, Alexandra Zanetta and Mariantonia Riezu also played serpentini—as the name suggests small serpents, with finger holes along the S shaped wooden body of these instruments.
My wife, visiting from the UK, listened from a box in the theatre. She will also be coming to the finale of Gassmann’s L’Opera Seria on 11 March 2026, after enjoying many of the delights of Vienna!
A week after returning from Vienna, we will be making a CD recording of Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba in Paris and performing it again at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris (25 March 2026) and at the Opéra de Lausanne in Switzerland (29 March 2026).
Russell Gilmour
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.
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Baroque
Baroque Style
BBC Proms
Beethoven
Berlioz
Biber
Brandenburg
Brandenburg Baroque Soloists
Brass Instrument Making
Broadcast
Chronicles
Classical
Concert
Cornetto
Education Outreach
English Slide Trumpet
Engraving
Festival
France
Germany
Gorczycki
Guts and Glory
Göttingen Handel Festival
Handel
Haydn
Historic Royal Palaces
Horn
Instrument
Instrument Making
Interview
Isle of Man
Keyed Trumpet
Kuhnau
Le Concert Lorrain
Lecture
Leipzig
Les Talens Lyriques
London
Masterclass
Modern Trumpet
Monteverdi
Mozart
Museum
Music
Natural Trumpet
Natural Trumpet Courses
OAE
OAEducation
Opera
Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century
Oxford
Period Costume
Photography
Poland
Purcell
Radio Broadcast
Recording
Renaisannce
Review
Royal Academy of Music
Royal Society of Musicians
Schelle
Schütz
Shakespeare
Solomon's Knot
Spain
Spiritato!
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
Switzerland
Taverner Consort
Teaching
Telemann
The English Concert
The Netherlands
The Section
Tour
Touring
Toyota Classics Tour 2018
Travel
Trumpet
Trumpet and Organ
Venice
Ventless
Vivaldi
Vox Luminis
Wedding
Wigmore Hall
Workshop
Wrocław Baroque Orchestra
York
Zelenka
Zugtrompete
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