The Neapolitan School Versus the Bolognese School

Join Dr Joseph Talia OAM, opera singer, artistic director, teacher and scholar, in a musical journey across four centuries, enhancing our appreciation of the qualities that make Italian opera one of the most loved artistic forms of all time, as well as one of the most successful cultural exports of il Bel Paese. Nicola Porpora, along with Pergolesi and Cimarosa, was one of the giants responsible for elevating the Neapolitan school to international prominence. Porpora’s achievements as a vocal pedagogue have become legendary. In 1733, he was called to London to establish a new company, the Opera of the Nobility. For a time, the Opera of the Nobility surpassed Handel’s own company. In the meantime, the Bolognese School was passed down from Antonio Pistocchi to his student, the castrato Antonio Bernacchi, who elevated the school to an even higher level of prestige.