The Aix-en-Provence Festival is the source for our next Sunday Opera (10/27 3:00 p.m.) with their production of Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito.”
Emperor Titus (Pene Pati) is well loved for his kindness by everyone except for Vitellia (Karine Deshayes), the daughter of the king deposed by Titus’ father. Vitellia has sworn revenge, especially since Tito has turned his attentions to a foreign princess to be the empress.
She enlists the aid of Tito’s friend Sesto (Marianne Crebassa) to plan Tito’s assassination, but when Tito decides that he wants to marry Sesto’s sister, Servilia (Emily Pogorele), since he is required to marry a Roman woman, Sesto is torn. The first act ends with the attack on Tito and the burning of the palace and the fear that Tito is dead.
Even though this is an “opera seria” there is a happy ending of sorts because of the goodwill and “clemency of Titus” who pardons everyone who acted against him and declares that he hopes that the gods will shorten his days if he ever stops caring about the good of Rome as he is a leader who cares about his people.
The cast also includes Lea Desandre as Annio and Nahuel di Pierro as Publio, and they are joined by the Pygmalion Chorus and Orchestra under the baton of Raphael Pichon.
With everything being so crazy right now and emotions running amok, host Michael Kownacky wanted to bring you some music to give you an hour or so of peace and relaxation.
We’ll begin with a ballet by Leo Delibes, his mythological “mashup,” “Sylvia,” which features some of Delibes’ loveliest work in a recording by the Razumovsky Sinfonia conducted by Andrew Mogrelia. After that, we’ll lighten the mood further with three dances, set number IV, from the complete orchestral dances of an often-overlooked composer, Imre (Emmerich) Szechenyi. These two polkas and a polka/mazurka performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV conducted by Laveria Csanyi, are truly a delightful way to end our time together.
