Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mitridate, re di Ponto

Introduction at 5.20 pm

What happens when, in times of war and destruction, even your own family becomes a battlefield and mistrust, desire and betrayal break out? The cruel, ingenious and at the same time megalomaniac King of Pontus, Mitridate, fights a hopeless war against the Romans, while his two sons are under pressure from their father and his fiancée Aspasia decides against her duty and in favor of her feelings and turns away from him. With Mitridate, the 14-year-old Mozart composed his first full-length opera seria according to all the rules of the time and at the same time a work in which his humanistic flair already shines through. In the arias, he gives the ensemble of singers ample opportunity to explore the depths of the human soul and display their vocal virtuosity. Preserving the essence of this historical operatic genre, but at the same time reinterpreting its form, the aim is to create something in which the orchestra is integrated both visually and in terms of content. In this way, the fate of the characters can be experienced directly through visible music-making.
Musical Direction: Adam Fischer
Production: Birgit Kajtna-Wönig
Stage and costumes: Marie-Luise Otto
Lighting: Bernd Gallasch
Video: Mara Wild Mara Wild
Dramaturgy: Michael Sangkuhl

Opera seria in three acts (1770)
Text by Vittorio Amedeo Cigna-Santi after Jean Racine

In Italian with German and English surtitles