Barocktage Festival in Berlin
Rolando Villazón takes the stage at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden to open Berlin’s Barocktage 2026 festival in Combattimento – Liebe, die in den Tod führt (Love Leading to Death), a dramatic pasticcio concert featuring the works of Claudio Monteverdi. The tenor will perform scenes as Orfeo from L’Orfeo and Testo (the Narrator) in Monteverdi’s dramatic madrigal Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda.
Curated and directed from the theorbo by early-music specialist Christina Pluhar alongside her ensemble L’Arpeggiata, the program weaves a narrative of passionate love, tragic identity, and irrevocable loss.
Villazón is joined by Céline Scheen in the dual roles of Euridice and Clorinda, mezzo-soprano Luciana Mancini as La Messaggiera, and baritone Renato Dolcini as the warrior Tancredi.