by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Margaret Jumonville, director
Kelly Kuo, conductor
What is power without mercy? La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) finds Vitellia—daughter of a deposed emperor in the year 79 A.D.—stewing with revenge against the titular Tito, the son of the man who took Vitellia's family crown. As Tito makes plans to choose his empress, a tale of jealousy, mistaken identity and, ultimately, forgiveness swirls against the colossal backdrop of ancient Rome.
Mozart was commissioned in the last year of his life to compose this new work to celebrate the coronation of Bohemia's King Leopold II. Allegedly completed in just 18 days, it stands alongside Rossini's The Barber of Seville in its mythical, quicksilver origin.