Scene from the Royal Danish Theater production of La clemenza di Tito © Miklos Szabo
As part of the Mozart à Monaco festival, organised by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Monte-Carlo Opera stages a new production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, in a coproduction with the Royal Danish Opera and Hamburg Staatsoper.
The production is staged by Dutch stage director, Jetske Mijnssen, who has brought the action into the present day. It is led by Gianluca Capuano, and stars Giovanni Sala as Tito, Emperor of Rome, Mané Galoyan as Vitellia, daughter of the former emperor of Rome, and Cecilia Bartoli as Sesto, a close friend of Tito.
Mozart wrote his two-act opera seria for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia in September 1791. Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and “serious” style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to about 1770. One of Mozart’s last operas, La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Tito) is a story of the triumph of friendship and forgiveness over jealousy and violence. The Italian libretto, was originally based on The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Roman historian Suetonius and Italian poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio, but was revived and renewed by Caterino Mazzolà.
Scene from the Royal Danish Theater production of La clemenza di Tito © Miklos Szabo
Originally set in Rome in the year AD80, the story tells of Tito, the new emperor of Rome, who is much loved by his people. Vitellia, daughter of the previous emperor, seeks to return to what she considers to be her rightful place on the throne by marriage, but when this fails, she plots to assassinate Tito, with the help of her young admirer, Sesto, who – despite his friendship with Tito – will do anything to gain the affection of Vitellia. He sets fire to the Capitol, then goes missing, feeling terribly guilty about what he’s done. He’s found by his friend, Annio, who persuades him to confess his guilt to Tito. This he does, and Sesto faces execution, although Tito is concerned about executing his friend, as well as his own reputation for clemency. Vitelliia realises that Sesto’s life is too high a price to pay for her ambitions, and asks Tito to spare his life. Tito announces a pardon for all those who conspired to kill him, and wins the praise of the people of Rome.
Tenor Giovanni Sala has recently appeared as Alfredo in Verdi’s La traviata at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and as Tamino in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Bavarian State Opera. He will follow these performances in Monte-Carlo with an engagement at Teatro Comunale di Bologna as Sir Edgardo di Ravenswood in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.
Armenian soprano Mané Galoyan who, according to the Houston Press, “…. possesses a crystalline voice that cuts through any orchestral texture”, and “…. can float incandescent pianissimos then belt with Verdian thunder”. She recently appeared as Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and will make her house debut at Theater Basel as Princess Liu in Puccini’s Turandot.
Mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli is the well-known Artistic Director of Monte-Carlo Opera.
Also in the cast are Mélissa Petit as Sesto’s sister Servilia, Anna Tetruashvili as Annio and Péter Kálmán as Publio, Tito’s captain of the guard.
Gianluca Capuano leads the Choir of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo (Director Stefano Visconti) and Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco – in four performances of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito at the Monte-Carlo Opera between January 22nd and 28th. Further information and details of ticketing are available on the Monte-Carlo website.
Information sourced from:
Monte-Carlo Opera programme notes
La clemenza di Tito
Artists’ websites
Opera Base
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