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With Storie di Napoli, la festa musicale now presents it's third production on AUDITE and approaches the varied and expressive Neapolitan baroque repertoire with an innovative approach. Sensual arias and virtuoso concerti by composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti, Francesco Mancini and Nicola Fiorenza combine in this concept album to create a sonic collage that tells Naples' best stories and pages from the Baroque heyday of what was then Europe's third-largest metropolis. These include an encounter with the seductive siren Parthenope, to whom the mythological foundation of the city goes back, a visit to Naples' multi-layered underworld with thoroughly surprising twists and turns, and the exuberant atmosphere of typical Neapolitan street life full of festivities and joie de vivre. Together with the young, promising soprano Maria Ladurner and under the direction of the renowned recorder player Barbara Heindlmeier, who is known for innovative concepts, la festa musicale treads a completely new path in this project. Sometimes the movement sequences of the concerti are broken up and interwoven with the arias. In this way, a new, overarching storyline is told that skillfully captures the multi-layered facets of a fascinating city. The North German baroque ensemble la festa musicale stands for first-class artistic quality, which is reflected in creative, cross-disciplinary concert formats and top-class collaborations. In addition to well-known works, Storie di Napoli also features rarely heard discoveries and a premiere recording of the aria "Nel mio petto" (from Il ritorno d'Ulisse) by Giuseppe Porsile. The richness of color, the emotional density and the fast-moving contrasts of this repertoire are underlined by the baroque ensemble with variable instrumentation and - completely dedicated to the art of ornamentation and improvisation of the baroque - it's own contributions, such as in the lively Tarantella napoletana alla festa musicale.