Dido and Aeneas, Cremona Monteverdi Festival 2026

[…] The staging conceived by Michele Pasotti opted for a path of absolute restraint. There was no attempt to superimpose a conceptual interpretation onto the score, nor any pursuit of spectacular effects alien to the work’s nature. The action was built through a few carefully measured gestures, relying above all on the music’s evocative power and the quality of the performers’ presence on the stage. This approach ensured that the story’s emotional core remained constantly at the forefront.

Musically, Pasotti’s conducting was one of the evening’s greatest strengths. What stood out most was not merely the stylistic precision—remarkable though it was—but rather his ability to manage the proportions of the entire dramatic structure. The opera unfolded with exemplary naturalness, avoiding both over-emphasis and excessive miniaturization; each episode found its place within a narrative arc clearly directed toward the final catastrophe.

The ensemble La Fonte Musica reaffirmed the qualities that make it one of the most authoritative ensembles in the early Baroque repertoire today. The transparency of the sound, the variety of the colours, and the meticulous attention to detail highlighted the extraordinary richness of Purcell’s writing. Particularly impressive was the ability to sustain expressive tension throughout, even in the most intimate and seemingly simple passages. […] 

Simone Manfredini, OperaClick.com , June 2026

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Michele Pasotti infused the music with tremendous pace and excitement while leading the ensemble La Fonte Musica; he did far more than simply conduct, successfully telling the story through the music and acting as a puppeteer holding all the work’s strings, amidst a fluid, well-structured interplay between dramatic delivery and musical performance.

The choir’s presence was extraordinary and electrifying; with incredible verve, they became a driving force for both the drama and the music. […]

Purcell’s music—rendered sublime by an impeccable performance—managed to suspend time and space for one hour […]

Federica Bressan, Le Salon Musical, June 2026

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Michele Pasotti and La fonte Musica tackled this challenge through an intensive process of integrating and reassembling various musical sources—driven by the aim of restoring continuity to a living organism rather than a mere artifact composed of fragments, copies, and quotations. […]

In the pit—or rather, on stage—a mere handful of instruments sufficed to conjure up entire worlds. The storm, the sea, destiny, and even silence seemed to emerge from the quality of the blended sound rather than from an accumulation of resources; a mastery embodied by the violins led by Stefano Barneschi, the flutes and dulcian played by the sensational Giulia Genini, the theorbo—played by Pasotti himself—and the rest of a crew of exceptional musicians.

Elide Bergamaschi, OperaTeatro.it, June 2026

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A semi-staged reconstruction led by conductor Michele Pasotti and his instrumental ensemble, ‘La Fonte Musica’. Pasotti is, of course, a musician and scholar deeply and intimately familiar with Baroque theatrical writing—not merely in terms of performance and historically informed practice, but also regarding historical reconstruction. […]

His conducting and realization of the basso continuo were flawless: precise in their adherence to historical authenticity yet emotionally compelling. He instilled this same perfection in the instrumental ensemble, which delivered a magnificent demonstration of how to present a Baroque work by getting to the very heart of its aesthetics and depth..

Everything was thrilling: the music, the conducting, the cast, the soloists, and the dramatic performance in this historic venue where Mozart once performed on Lombard soil.

The applause was as endless as the tears Dido shed over Aeneas’s abandonment.

Roberto Fiorentini, Cremona Sera, June 2026

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L’Orfeo, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, 2025

The festival entrusted the performance to La Fonte Musica—Michele Pasotti’s ensemble, which has brought us such delight in recent years, albeit within the confines of the medieval repertoire in which they are refined specialists. It is perhaps precisely that experience—or that broader perspective—that enriched their approach to a work that serves as both a farewell to the Renaissance and a welcome to the Baroque.

The greatest merit of Pasotti’s version—in which he also played the lute at various points—is that it has captured the inquisitive spirit of the courtly spectacle that premiered in Mantua in 1607. Even more impressively, he conveyed that the true protagonist of the story—a tale where gods and shepherds, heaven and hell coexist—is the transformative power of music […]

It is difficult to single out any particular detail or performer, as every element was delivered perfectly: the choruses, the dances, the lyrical outpourings, the madrigal references, or the purely instrumental sections—starting with an opening *toccata* that was at once rugged and ceremonial. […]

Any opera house in the world would dream of presenting L’Orfeo with such a high level of interpretative excellence. […] 

Luis Gago, El Pais, September 2025

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Pasotti alternates between the conductor’s podium (which isn’t actually there) and his theorbo player’s chair. He delivers a stark Orfeo—devoid of special or “Ba-rock” effects— yet not compromising neither on ornamentation nor on theatrical pacing. To me, it felt coherent and convincing, and—in more than one instance—moving in its deceptively simple execution; after all, ars est celare artem. Impeccable instrumentalists […] A Monteverdi that is lucid, genuine, and Italian […]

He solves the riddle inherent in any Monteverdi’ work—and this one in particular: finding the right balance between “orazione” and “armonia”—in short, between words and music.

Alberto Mattioli, Il Foglio, March 2025

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“Michele Pasotti’s “L’Orfeo” draws its compelling power from subtle nuances, where others approach it more “theatrically,” evoking, as it were, the “opera” of later centuries and the audience’s “ears,” trained for cruder effects, in Monteverdi’s opus. […]

Michele Pasotti and the ensemble la fonte musica […] provided much musical “consolation.” And they approached Monteverdi from the perspective of his historical predecessors […]

The ensemble indulged the ear with a sensitively felt, luminous sound, as if a gentle golden reflection were emerging from the music […] It was a soulful “L’Orfeo” without sobriety or archaic severity.

Mauro Borgioni’s Orfeo perfectly suited this “sound concept”: a Monteverdian “cavalier baritone,” endowed with a rich, soft-toned voice. […] This Orfeo remained completely true to the music, even in his suffering, caressing the audience and the gods. […]

The audience was thrilled by these emotions, cushioned as if by fine velvet, and gave them minutes of thunderous applause.”

Dominik Troger, Operinwien.at

From the article announcing the DIAPASON d’OR (CDs Enigma Fortuna): […] And what a perfection of execution the Fonte Musica offers him! The crystalline clarity of the two sopranos, who declaim Et in terra pax with astonishing precision, responds to the haughty splendor of the trombones. The voices, splendid and infallible, offer different facets: from the rocky texture of the men in the Credo Scabioso to the roundness of the Gloria Laus Honor for mixed choir. The profoundly sensitive interpretation brings out the hieratic majesty of these sacred polyphonies. 

After two hours of religious repertoire, scattered with delicate and pointillist instrumental touches, the fiery Italian group can be heard pawing in Un fior gentil or in Deus Deorum Pluto. The last two CDs of this integral reaffirm the intoxicating energy that animated Metamorphosis of the Fourteenth Century. […]  Michele Pasotti offers an ever-new range of timbres, with extreme detail and refinement . Vielles, lutes, harp, organ, clavicymbalum, shawls, flutes and trombones blend delicately with the eight voices, doubling here, accompanying there, to reinforce the expression, or in very well imitated ornamental responses. Recreated starting only from the lines of counterpoint transmitted by the sources, the instrumentation and the reconstructions of the fragmentary polyphonies are based on a remarkable historical work. Zacara da Teramo, musical architect, has left some projects: La Fonte Musica has raised its monuments.(DIAPASON, September 2021)

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From the article announcing the DIAPASON d’OR (CD Metamorfosi Trecento): “An absolute mastery of every aspect of these repertoires. These Italians are mad about the Trecento, fueled by the intoxicating energy of Michele Pasotti: with lively tempos and exquisitely detailed ornamentation, the Italian ensemble tames the daunting complexity of Ars Subtilior pieces. The group brings a distinctive, personal touch to courtly poetry, declaiming it with passion; the singers savor every word and every nuance of the text, sparing no rhetorical flourish. The interpretation is thoughtful and meticulously crafted down to the finest detail—the result of phenomenal research into medieval sources, the musical theory and idioms of the era, and pronunciation, not to mention the instrumentation”. (DIAPASON, March 2017)

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Reasons for inclusion of Metamorfosi Trecento in the list of “100 albums every music lover should know“: “The young Italian ensemble [possesses] a strength echoing that of the pioneering interpreters of medieval music: their bold creative choices crystallize a powerful desire to bring these manuscripts from a bygone era to the audience’s ears, while seeking to penetrate the secrets they still—and always will—conceal. […] The aesthetic richness of their interpretation reflects a quest for historical truth—one that is utopian yet fruitful. […] Far from being a shackle, knowledge can actually galvanize musicians, spurring them to channel their creative energy into reviving repertoires once steeped in improvisation and oral tradition. This is precisely where la fonte musica has excelled since its very first recordings. […] The experimental ingenuity they bring to works from the Trecento and the Ars Subtilior captivates us.” (DIAPASON)

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“The musicians of La Fonte Musica make these works their own with as much experience as affection, delivering a performance of enchanting atmosphere and charm. At the same time, they display remarkable energy in highlighting the subtlest textual inflections, transcending mere allegory to offer a more sensual and dramatic approach; their attentiveness to the words demonstrates a perfect grasp of a key element of this repertoire—one forged in close connection with literature, and poetry in particular. Intelligently structured and performed with equal measures of sensitivity, conviction, and discernment, this program confirms that Michele Pasotti and his ensemble have found their true calling in the music of the Trecento.” (Wunderkammern – France)