Nile Scott Studios

Fifty-five years after its first modern revival in Salzburg with a spectacular cast — Edda Moser, Arleen Auger, Pilar Lorengar, Helen Watts, and Peter Schreier–this summer finds the fourteen-year-old Mozart’s work starring Sara Blanch, Elsa Dreisig, Julie Roset, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian and Pene Pati conducted by Adam Fischer.

Fischer’s cast poaches several from recent Mitridate performances at the Berlin Staatsoper: Bénos-Djinn and Pati starred in the perversely static staging by Satoshi Miyagi at its 2022 premiere, while Dreisig dominated the following year’s revival which I attended and enjoyed immensely—musically, that is.

Dreisig was also Sifare opposite Blanch’s Aspasia in the recent Claus Guth production at Madrid’s Teatro Real which also featured Franco Fagioli as Farnace and Marina Monzó, this summer’s Figaro Countess at the Santa Fe Opera.

Christophe Rousset has long been a Mitridate advocate: he conducted the Paris production I saw in 2000.

He returned to it this spring for concert performances including one at La Scala which featured Jessica Pratt, Olga Besmertna, Levy Sekgapane (who also sings the title role in today’s French broadcast), and impressive, rising Canadian contralto Rose Naggar-Trembley as Farnace.

Before Philippe Jaroussky conducted the Montpellier Mitridate, he led a try-out in Poland with American-born, French-situated tenor Zachary Wilder in the title role.

Countertenors have frequently taken on the role of Farnace. Of the three Mitridates I’ve heard, Brian Asawa and Carlo Vistoli sang Farnace, while my first included a disturbingly off-form Tatiana Troyanos

But more recently, men have begun to also take on the higher role of Sifare. Rising countertenor Key’mon Murrah sings it today for Jaroussky, while very young male soprano Dennis Orellana performed it last year in Brussels.

Hongri Wu, Jaroussky’s Farnace, is currently singing Cherubino with the Santa Fe Opera, while his Ismene, Lauranne Oliva, takes on the title role in this summer’s Aix-en-Provence Festival production of Cavalli’s La Calisto. Nicolò Balducci was to have been Nerone in the canceled Caramoor L’incoronazione di Poppea.

Mozart: Mitridate, re di Ponto

Aspasia: Brenda Rae
Sifare: Vanessa Goikoetxea
Ismene: Angela Yam
Farnace: John Holiday
Arbate: Alexis Peart
Mitridate: Lawrence Brownlee
Marzio: Charles Sy

Conductor: David Angus
Boston Lyric Opera
September 2024
Broadcast

Aspasia: Marie Lys
Ismene: Lauranne Oliva
Farnace: Hongni Wu
Sifare: Key’mon Murrah
Arbate: Nicolò Balducci
Mitridate: Levy Sekgapane
Marzio Remy Burnens

Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie
Conductor: Philippe Jaroussky
Opéra Comédie de Montpellier
12 April 2025
Broadcast

Both performances of Mitridate can be downloaded by clicking on the icon of a cloud with an arrow pointing downward on the audio player above and the resulting mp3 file will appear in your download directory.

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Christopher Corwin

Christopher Corwin began writing for parterre box in 2011 under the pen name “DeCaffarrelli.” His work has also appeared in , The New York Times, Musical America, The Observer, San Francisco Classical Voice and BAMNotes. Like many, he came to opera via the Saturday Met Opera broadcasts which he began listening to at age 11. His particular enthusiasm is 17th and 18th century opera. Since 2015 he has curated the weekly podcast Trove Thursday on parterre box presenting live recordings.

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