I have been captivated by Franco Fagioli ever since my partner invited me to a ‘blind listening’ of an operatic YouTube clip featuring the Argentinian countertenor. When I opened my eyes, I felt a visceral shock on seeing that the owner of this other-worldly mezzo-soprano voice was a man. My partner and I made a pact to do whatever it took to see this human musical phenomenon in the flesh.

Jake Arditti and Franco Fagioli in Alessandro nell’Indie, Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, 2022. Photo © Bayreuth Baroque/Falk von Traubenberg

Five years and a pandemic later, we got our wish to see Franco Fagioli live. We bought the last two adjacent tickets in any of the three performances at the 2022 Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival (running 7– 18 September) of Alessandro nell’Indie by Leonardo Vinci: the first full performance of the opera in almost 300 years.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for this overlooked Baroque composer, not just for his transient musical legacy but because he must have spent his life deflecting jokes about the Mona Lisa. In his day, however, Vinci was a hugely popular and prolific...