As part of the free open-air festival Klassiek op het Amstelveld in Amsterdam, students and teachers from the Royal Conservatoire The Hague and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam present two special concerts. The Dutch National Opera Academy (DNOA) performs Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, followed by a varied programme by the Early Music Department, with the recorder taking centre stage. These performances build a bridge between early and contemporary music, right in the heart of Amsterdam.
Premiered in Naples on 28 August 1733 at the Teatro San Bartolomeo, Naples, La Serva Padrona quickly secured its place in history as the first great example of opera buffa—comic opera. Originally conceived as a brief intermezzo between the acts of Pergolesi’s opera seria Il Prigionier Superbo, this light-hearted work soon outshone its parent piece, charming audiences with its wit, elegance, and concise theatrical brilliance.
The story unfolds in two lively acts. Uberto, weary of Serpina’s increasingly presumptuous behaviour, decides it is time to find a wife. Serpina, however, has other plans. Enlisting the silent Vespone, she concocts a ruse involving a
fictitious suitor—Captain Tempesta—who demands a dowry under threat of violence. Flustered and afraid, Uberto agrees to marry Serpina to escape the fabricated threat. In the end, affection triumphs over trickery, as both characters come to recognise the love that has long simmered beneath their quarrels.
With music that sparkles with charm and character, Pergolesi captures both the comic spirit and tender humanity of his figures. La Serva Padrona remains a jewel of the operatic repertoire—elegant in form, vivid in feeling, and timeless in its appeal.
Programme:
Pergolesi – La serva padrona intermezzo per musica
Román Bordón, Uberto
Aimee Kearney, Serpina
Jaap van der Wel, Vespone
Clarisse Planchais, soprano
Christina Domnick, conductor
Isaac Lam, continuo
Rennik-Jan Neggers, director & design
String ensemble Classical Music Department, Conservatorium van Amsterdam
A special tribute to Frans Brüggen, at the very place where he lived and where the annual festival Classical Music at the Amstelveld now takes place. Students and teachers of the Early Music Department at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague present a varied programme with recorders taking centre stage. They will showcase how the instrument has sounded through the centuries – from baroque to avant-garde. Be surprised by the ensemble The Hague Recorders with repertoire by, among others, Telemann, Boismortier, Marcello, and contemporary composers.
Programme:
Schickhardt – Concerto op. 19 nr. 2
Boismortier – Concerto op. 15 nr. 6, PB 312
Andriessen – Ende
Telemann – Concerto TWV 40:201, transcription
Purcell – 3 parts upon a Ground, Z. 731
Vivaldi / J.S. Bach – Concertos op. 3 nr. 10, RV 580 / BWV 1065, arrangement
The Hague Recorders:
Katerina Chrysanthakopoulou, Telma Cunha dos Santos, Inês d’Avena, Kristy van Dijk, Naomi Hassoun, Marie-Pia Le Bouteiller, Johanna Littger, Maria Rito e Castro, Daan Soare, Stefan Temmingh, Maya Zutta
Marino Gonzáles Garcia, viola da gamba
Ekaterina Uvova, Corentin Caussin, theorbo en baroque guitar