To close the 38th edition of the Festival, Andreas Scholl – one of its favourite and faithful countertenor – comes with an unusual and exclusive program based on Neapolitan cantatas and arias of the XVIIe and XVIIIe centuries. He will be accompanied by Ensemble 1700 founded and directed by the virtuoso flute player, Dorothee Oberlinger. They will take us in the footsteps of young Handel, who travelled in Italy from 1706 to   1710 and who discovered the vocal inventiveness of Scarlatti, of Leo and of Porpora, Farinelli’s master. Handel composed overthere an impressive number of masterpieces devoted to the musical capitals that were Florence, Roma, Venice and Napoli. Among the cantatas Andreas Scholl will sing in Beaune, let’s mention « Mi Palpita il Cor » by Handel, that the composer probably wrote in Napoli. This cantata became one of his most popular; its striking repeated notes are meant to figure the singer’s heartbeat. The aria «Torcere il corso all’onde», from Porpora’s Il Trionfo di Camilla and written for the famous castrato Senesino, is one of those exhilarating tunes that last for long once you’ve heard it.