She was called the «Minerva of the North»: Christina of Sweden. After her abdication as queen, she travelled to Rome, stopping over in Innsbruck to convert to Catholicism and attend an inspiring performance of the opera «L’Argia» by Innsbruck court musician Pietro Antonio Cesti. In Rome, the music-loving princess engaged Carissimi and Scarlatti as capellmeisters and commissioned other composers like Stradella and Pasquini to perform works for her. Musicians, poets, philosophers and members of the Curia met at Christina’s palace in Rome for the enjoyment of art. It is from this poetic circle that the Accademia dell’Arcadia emerged, the most influential Italian artists’ association of the baroque, which celebrated mythological Arcadia as an alternative world to the strictly regulated reality of the day. A land of dreams for a quaint life without social constraints.

Hungarian singer and winner of the Innsbruck Cesti Competition, Emőke Baráth, takes the audience there with cantatas and arias penned by composers who belonged to the group surrounding Christina of Sweden. She will be accompanied by Tyrolean harpist Margret Köll and Italian lutenist Michele Pasotti. Köll plays on a replica of the precious Barberini harp whose enchanting sounds once delighted the Accademia dell’Arcadia.