Antonio Cesti (1623-1669) was an Italian composer, singer and Franciscan friar who became one of the leading opera composers of the mid-seventeenth century. Born in Arezzo, he worked in Italy and at the Habsburg court in Innsbruck and Vienna.

His best-known opera is Orontea, one of the most successful stage works of its age. He also wrote cantatas and sacred music, but his historical importance rests chiefly on his contribution to the development of Italian opera after Monteverdi.

Cesti’s music favours lyrical grace, memorable vocal lines and dramatic clarity. He helped shape a more tuneful and theatrically flexible operatic style, with arias taking on greater prominence.

In the history of opera, Cesti stands between early Venetian experiment and the more formalised Baroque stage. His work shows the young genre learning how to charm, persuade and sing its way into permanence.