L'incoronazione di Poppea is Claudio Monteverdi's final opera, written when he was 75, and it is often considered his best. It was first performed in Venice in 1642 and a manuscript with the composer's own markings survives to this day.

The opera tells the amoral story of Nero's affair with the scheming and seductive Poppea, here portrayed by Maria Ewing, with evil triumphing over good, while the allegorical figures from the Prologue - Fortune, Virtue, and Love look on.

This sparkling new production by Sir Peter Hall, Director of the National Theatre and Artistic Director of Glyndebourne itself is designed by John Bury and conducted by Ramond Leppard, the celebrated authority on Baroque music, who made this modern edition of the opera and has conducted his edition in many opera houses worldwide.