Language: Italian
Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

From the maturity of Monteverdi to that of Cavalli, his successor at Saint Mark's Basilica and in the private theaters of the Serenissima, Venice experienced in the 17th century a veritable musical golden age. Elena is one of its most precious nuggets.

Elena is a three-act Dramma per musica by Francesco Cavalli, set to a libretto originally by Giovanni Faustini, dying in 1651 before the completion of the work, and was later completed by Nicolò Minato. The opera was first performed in Venice at the Teatro San Cassiano; the dedication is dated to 26 December 1659.

The Greek prince Menelaus (nephew of the king of Crete Atreus) and Theseus, king of Athens, are in love with Helen, a woman of rare beauty, famous for the fire of Troy. Menelaus, to get closer to Helen, dresses as a woman to come and serve her by pretending to be an Amazon. One day Peritous, seeing him in women's clothes fighting with Elena and therefore believing him to be a woman, falls in love with her. Theseus kidnaps Helen, since he had sworn not to marry except with a daughter of Jupiter - and Helen was reputed to have been fathered by Jupiter in the guise of a swan. To kidnap Helen, he abandons Hippolyta, a prisoner received as a gift from Hercules and in love with Theseus, who when she goes to look for him discovers that he has kidnapped Helen and is therefore disdained and torn in her love for her. Helen will be freed by her brothers, Castor and Pollux; Hippolyta's affection strikes Theseus, who decides to marry her; Menelaus, having discovered himself, marries Helen.

Director: Jean-Yves Ruf (Director), Leonardo García-Alarcón (Music Conductor)
Cast: Cappella Mediterranea, Emöke Baràth, Solenn Lavanant Linke, Anna Reinhold, Valer Barna-Sabadus, Fernando Guimaraes, Rodrigo Ferreira, Emiliano Gonzales Toro, Scott Conner