Chicago Classical Review

Haymarket Opera Company’s debut Cedille recording of Joseph Bologne’s L’Amant anonyme received a great deal of media attention upon its release in 2023. Yet despite some worthy solo singing, the opera proved decidedly slender in invention and musical rewards.

No such complaint can be made about Haymarket’s new recording of Leonardo Vinci’s Artaserse. Indeed, as the Chicago-based Baroque opera company’s sophomore Cedille release shows, Haymarket has exhumed a genuine find with Vinci’s richly melodic opera offering three and one-half hours of ceaselessly engaging and delightful music.

Vinci (1690-1730) was prolific in his short life, writing over forty operas. Apparently he was even more prolific in his romantic life before his early death at 39, supposedly poisoned by a jealous husband.

The plot of Artaserse, Vinci’s final work, is the usual opera seria folderol about mythic Persian heroics and romantic court  entanglements. In the wake of King Serse’s assassination by the courtier Artabano, the murderer attempts to frame his son Arbace for the regicide, while Serse’s son, the prince Artaserse, attempts to uncover the truth about the murder.

The convoluted narrative proves secondary to the extraordinary flow of terrific music with 28 solo arias spread among an excellent six-member cast. Countertenors reign in an opera originally cast with castrati leads and both Kangmin Justin Kim in the title role and Key’mon Murrah as Arbace give rich-toned and impressively agile advocacy; Murrah especially shines in Arbace’s showpiece aria that closes Act I, “Vo solcando un mar crudele.” 

There are equally first-rate contributions by tenor Eric Ferring as the villain Artabane, Haymarket stalwart Emily Fons (Mandane), Elijah McCormack (Semira) and Ryan Belongie (Megabise). Craig Trompeter leads the Haymarket Opera Orchestra in a lively, colorful and well-balanced performance. The tangy period-instrument timbres are nicely captured by the recording, made at Haymarket’s home at DePaul’s Jarvis Opera Hall in the wake of the company’s 2025 performances of Artaserse in its belated American debut. 

Unfortunately, a full libretto and English translation are not included, and one must access them on the Cedille website using an enclosed bar code. That apart, Vinci’s Artaserse is a real find and Haymarket Opera’s superb recording deserves to be widely heard—not just by early music and Baroque fans, but all aficionados of opera and fine singing.

Haymarket Opera presents Charpentier’s David et Jonathas June 21 at DePaul University’s Gannon Concert Hall.

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