Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774)
Achille in Sciro, opéra en 1 prologue et 3 actes

Angelo Giordano, contreténor (Achille)
Julia Gromball, soprano (Deidamia)
Joel Vuik, contreténor (Ulysse)
Jasper Sung, ténor (Licomede)
Nicolas Ziélinski, contreténor (Teagene)
Leila Grace Hills, soprano (Nearco)
Miriam Zubieta, soprano (Pallade/Arcade)
Opernchor des Theaters Altenburg Gera
Philharmonisches Orchester Altenburg Gera
Gerd Amelung, direction

Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774) is today primarily known as the author of a significant treatise on singing. All the more remarkable, therefore, is the first recording of his late Baroque festive opera Achille in Sciro (1765), which, after more than 250 years, is once again performed by the Theater Altenburg Gera under the direction of Gerd Amelung. Agricola, a pupil of Johann Sebastian Bach, was appointed from Thuringia to Berlin, where he worked as a court composer alongside contemporaries such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Joachim Quantz. In Achille in Sciro – with a libretto by the opera revolutionary Pietro Metastasio – the young Achilles, disguised as a woman, escapes his fate of being involved in war on the island of Skyros. Torn between his lust for battle and his love for the king's daughter Deidamia, he is faced with a momentous decision. The outstanding soloist ensemble, almost entirely consisting of high voices – including three countertenors – brings to life the nuances of vocal artistry in the transition from Baroque to Classical in a strikingly impressive manner. The Theater Altenburg Gera is the most-visited opera house in Thuringia. The recording was made as part of the highly acclaimed stage production resulting from an elaborate reconstruction in 2024.