Biography
Antonio Cesti was baptised on 5 August 1623 in Arezzo and served as a choirboy at the cathedral there before joining the Franciscan order in 1637 and continuing his musical training in Rome with Antonio Maria Abbatini and Giacomo Carissimi. In 1646 he became chapelmaster and organist at the seminary in Volterra, where he was also ordained a priest; his first known opera, 'Orontea', was written for Venice in 1649. In 1652 he entered the service of Archduke Ferdinand Charles in Innsbruck as court Kapellmeister, where the revised 'Orontea' (1656) and 'La Dori' (1657), two of his most successful operas, had their premieres. In 1666 he moved to the imperial court in Vienna as vice-Kapellmeister, where in 1668 he created 'Il pomo d'oro' for the wedding of Emperor Leopold I, one of the most lavish opera productions of the century. Cesti died on 14 October 1669 in Florence.
On Stagelog
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