La Calisto

La Calisto is an Italian opera by Francesco Cavalli from a libretto by Giovanni Faustini based on the mythological story of Callisto.

The plot is somewhat formulaic: Jane Glover has commented on how the librettist had to invent complications to meet audience expectations in the context of Venetian opera.

[2] The original Venetian production suffered from many incidents, including the death of the primo uomo Bonifatio Ceretti shortly after the premiere.

The United States premiere of the opera was presented in April 1972 for the dedication of the Patricia Corbett Pavilion at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music.

[6] It was performed in London by the Opera Factory at the Royal Court Theatre in June 1984 with the harpsichordist, Paul Daniel, conducting a group of nine players of baroque instruments.

The conductor was Christophe Rousset, who combined the players of his baroque music ensemble Les Talens Lyriques with members of the La Scala orchestra to fill the large hall.

The singers included Chen Reiss as Calisto, Luca Tittoto as Jupiter, Véronique Gens as Juno, Olga Bezsmertna as Diana, Christophe Dumaux as Endymion, Chiara Amarù as Linfea and Markus Werba as Mercury.