Launching an ambitious Baroque season of four operas and an oratorio, English Touring Opera showed impressive musical flair in Cavalli's Erismena, a 1655 rarity written for the Venice Carnival.
ETO's deft period instrument ensemble, conducted by Brian Gordon, kept musical longueurs to a minimum - this is a drawn-out affair with much coming and going yet little action - and the singers had class, especially the women, Laura Mitchell, Rachel Nicholls and Patricia Orr.
A cryptic story of cross-dressing , it passes in amiably confusing fashion until the last 10 minutes when, to précis, the wounded "boy" soldier of the title bares her breasts, the servant declares himself a prince and the sexy harlot upgrades to princess.
To say all becomes clear would be to exaggerate but it allows mercifully swift and happy closure.
James Conway's production was inadvertently pantomimic on the first night but will settle.
Though Cavalli never attempted full emotional variety, his music will delight those generically susceptible to all things Italian Baroque.
For the rest of us, ETO is also touring two established masterpieces: Monteverdi's Orfeo and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. On this evidence, musical standards promise to be high.
.www.englishtouringopera.org.uk/tourdiary
English Touring Opera: Erismena
Hackney Empire
Mare Street, E8 1EJ
