Mitridate
Nicola Porpora
This season you can hear two performances of Mitridate just one month apart, Mozart’s version in March and Porpora’s rarer rendition tonight.
Dates
Michael Spyres | Mitridate
Chelsea Zurfluh | Laodice
Madison Nonoa | Tigrano
Arianna Vendittelli | Oronta
Margherita Sala | Farnace
Alex Rosen | Arbate
Andrea Buccarella | direction
il Pomo d’Oro
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Sung in Italian, with French/English subtitles
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Approx. running time : 2h30
About
The Neapolitan musician Porpora was one of the iconic composers of the baroque period and Handel’s main rival on the London scene, with each man heading up his own theatre: the Royal Academy for Handel and the Opera of the Nobility for Porpora. He directed the castrati singers Farinelli, Caffarelli and Porporino, and was close to Senesino. These star performers set the seal on his reputation in England, but also ruined him with their exorbitant fee demands. Mitridate, inspired by Racine’s eponymous tragedy, is the last opera he wrote in London for an all-star cast including Senesino and Farinelli. We are familiar with the version composed by the young Mozart a few years later, but it is high time we (re)discovered this masterpiece from the Neapolitan school.
Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées