LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

La clemenza di Tito, or the Mercy of a King in the Age of the Guillotine

Composed to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II of Austria as King of Bohemia, the opera premiered just a few years after the storming of the Bastille, during the bloodiest days of the French Revolution. The enduring relevance of eternal Rome perfectly suited both monarchists and freethinkers alike: the former looked to the benevolence of the crown in forgiving vile betrayal, while the latter gave voice to a people questioning the legitimacy of untouchable crowned heads. Mozart’s final creation, however, transcends the political conventions of its turbulent age to explore human fragility, transforming Tito’s clemency not merely into an act of state but into an ethical dilemma concerning the solitude of power and the complexity of human affections.

The figure of Emperor Tito is approached by two young talents of firmly established international careers: conductor Stefano Montanari and stage director Rafael R. Villalobos. Villalobos’ vision relocates the action to the cinematic world of Cinecittà in the 1940s, where intrigues among divas and producers reflect the ways in which cinema and Roman imagery were instrumentalised to construct a narrative of imperial grandiosity. To convey the drama’s emotional tension without neglecting the beauty of Mozart’s score, no one is better suited than Montanari, one of the liveliest and most expressive conductors of his generation, as already demonstrated in Così fan tutte. Tenor Antonio Poli embodies Tito, one of the latest roles —together with Idomeneo— added to his Mozart repertoire. His political antagonist, Vitellia, is portrayed by the fast-rising soprano Anastasia Bartoli, daughter and pupil of Cecilia Gasdia, whose generous and remarkably versatile voice enables her to move from Mozart and Rossini to Verdian heroines such as Lady Macbeth and Abigaille. Completing the cast are the American mezzo-soprano Angela Brower as Sesto, praised for her full and brilliant tone and shaped artistically by the Bayerische Staatsoper, where she became a regular at both the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera; and as Servilia, the young Galician soprano Rosalía Cid, whose established career includes Dresden, La Scala and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and who performs her first operatic role in Spain at Les Arts.