The Italian oratorio tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries is perhaps one of Italy's best-kept secrets and certainly one of the most undervalued of all its riches.

The Teatro San Cassiano will celebrate these masterpieces with a dedicated festival of Oratorio every year during Lent, when it will also cease staging opera. Not only will that respect the time of year, but it will give us the opportunity to explore how we approach Historically Informed Performances of all sacred music of this era.

The opportunity offered by performing these magnificent compositions in an historical theatre is simply enormous. We should note, of course, that where these works would have been given only in a sacred environment, then this shall be properly respected within our recitals and approach to their setting. We hope it will show that the San Cassiano can be more than a theatre and become a world-leading centre of excellence for the exploration, study and performance of all early music.

Our aim would be to commence our festival from 2029 onwards, once the reconstruction has been completed in 2028.

We thought it would be a nice synergy if we made this announcement during Lent of 2024 and in particular on the birthday of Duke Francesco d'Este di Modena (6 March 1660), one of Italy's most passionate patrons of the arts and especially oratorio. 

And if you are wondering about the link to Francesco II, then he was the subject of Paul Atkin's PhD on opera production in late Seventeenth-Century Modena.