By Scott Cantrell|Special Contributor – DallasNews.com – Photo: Karen Almond|American Baroque Opera Co.
Photo:From left: Jendi Tarde (as Teutile), Janna Elesia Critz (Ramiro), Nicholas Garza (Fernando), Ryan D. Kuster (Montezuma), Hannah Ceniseros (Mitrena) and Keymon Murrah (Asprano) starred in the American Baroque Opera Company’s performance of Antonio Vivaldi’s opera Montezuma at Arts Mission Oak Cliff.
Premiered in 1733, and apparently soon forgotten, Montezuma was long known only from a surviving libretto. Only in 2002 was an incomplete score of the music discovered. As was common in the baroque period, musical editors since have attempted to flesh out the opera by adapting the libretto’s words to arias from other Vivaldi operas. The local performance was a mix of original and adapted musical materials, trimmed to a 2 1/2-hour duration.
