BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:icalendar-ruby
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260821T134632Z
UID:a3418f31-4ad0-40c2-a766-49db8b7c424a
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260924
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261001
DESCRIPTION:Sep 24 - Oct 1\, 2026\n“My fingers ache from writing all thos
 e recitatives.” That’s what Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart\, all of 14\, had 
 to say to his big sister Nannerl in Salzburg while preparing Mitridate\, R
 e da Ponto for the carnival season in Milan. It was a plum commission\, an
 d little Wolfgangerl aced it\, landing a repeat engagement two seasons lat
 er. Unsurprisingly\, however\, he never heard Mitridate again. True\, comp
 osers were forever recycling the same librettos—chiefly the highfalutin
 ’ tragedies manqué of Pietro Metastasio\, the Shakespeare of the presti
 gious opera seria form. But in every self-respecting opera center\, new ca
 sts expected material custom-tailored to their specialties. Which to an ex
 tent explains why Neapolitans will be encountering Mitridate this season f
 or the very first time. Here’s a cheat sheet. The eponymous king of remo
 te Pontus is at war with the Romans. According to false report\, he has di
 ed in battle\, and as the curtain rises\, his two sons are competing for t
 he hand of Dad’s fiancée\, who knows exactly which one she wants. But t
 hen Dad shows up\, with another princess in tow. Jack shall have Jill? Yes
 \, eventually\, twice over\, though not until Dad has died by his own hand
 \, leaving the next generation to fight the losing battle against the Roma
 n Republic. The tenor Giovanni Sala\, thrilling in timbre and phrase in Ve
 rdi and the classic Mozart roles\, leads the cast as the king. The glitter
 ing soprano Sara Blanch is Aspasia\, the queen bee with more drones buzzin
 g around her than she knows what to do with. Franco Fagioli\, a tiger amon
 g countertenors\, portrays Farnace\, the naughty prince who has been playi
 ng footsie with the Romans. If “Venga pur\,” Farnace’s volcanic outp
 ouring of filial defiance fails to bring down the house\, I’ll eat my ha
 t. But in fact\, the entire cast has chances to score big\, both in pyrote
 chnic and elegiac modes. Though Mitridate is in a style Mozart and the wor
 ld outgrew\, in a worthy performance\, it strikes like lightning.
LOCATION:Teatro San Carlo\, Via San Carlo\, 98\, 80132 Napoli NA\, Italy\, 
 United States
SUMMARY:Mitridate\, Re da Ponto\, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/mitridate-re-da-ponto
 -by-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR