Organization

Conductor

Marc Minkowski

Stage director

Satoshi Miyagi

Set designer

Junpei Kiz

Lighting designer

Irene Selka

Costume designer

Kayo Takahashi Deschene

Eri Fukazawa

Dramaturge

Detlef Giese

Choreographer

Yu Otagaki

Singer

Tenor

Pene Pati

Mitridate

Soprano

Angela Brower

Sifare

Countertenor

Paul-Antoine Benos-Djian

Farnace

Sarah Aristidou

Ismene

Adriana Bignagni Lesca

Arbate

Ana Maria Labin

Aspasia

Sahy Ratia

Marzio

Actor

Ken Sugiyama

Yasmin Schönmann

Dancer

Amie Blaire Chartier

Francesca Ciaffoni

Annekatrin Kiesel

Alessandra La Bella

Shannon Leypoldt

Francisco Martínez García

Romane Petit

Filippo Serra

State Opera Berlin

Les Musiciens du Louvre

Orchestra

Ιταλικά

Mitridate, re di Ponto, K. 87

Berlin

Germany

Staatsoper Unter den Linden

The Berlin State Opera breathes new life into this paean to freedom, under the bold artistic direction of Satoshi Miyagi (with set design by Junpei Kiz and costumes by Kayo Takahashi Deschene), who transposes the story to preindustrial Japan. The result is a sparkling triumph in the spirit of kabuki theatre, spotlighting the talent of the remarkable cast including tenor Pene Pati in the title role and Ana Maria Labin as Aspasia, resplendent in this drama whose stakes transcend the bounds of history and become universal.

In the first century B.C., when the people of the Mediterranean had all fallen under the rule of the Roman Empire, one sovereign dared to resist the invasion: Mithridates, King of Pontus. Nearly two thousand years later, a prodigious 14-year-old named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart decided to stage the epic drama of Mithridates for the opera stage, inspired by Parini’s Italian translation of the play by Racine. The work’s success seemed assured, with the original Sifare, Pietro Benedetti, quipping to Leopold Mozart that he would allow himself to be castrated all over again if it failed—but that did not come to pass, as audiences immediately took to this youthful masterpiece—which resounds impeccably in the hands of Les Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of their celebrated founder, Marc Minkowski.

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