L’incoronazione di Poppea

Power corrupts – but love corrupts absolutely. Poppea, scheming mistress of the Emperor Nero, exploits his erotic obsession to commit all forms of crime in her ruthless pursuit of power – and in her lust to be crowned Empress. Love conquers all – even if that love is dark and damaged through and through. Daring to seduce the audience with his dangerously exquisite music, Monteverdi turns morality on its head in a compelling mix of high comedy and dark tragedy. Sir John Eliot Gardiner completes his historic survey of Monteverdi’s three surviving operas with one of the composer’s grandest, most sensuous and most scandalous works.