Reviewed 9 June 2026
A welcome opportunity to hear Mozart's great last opera in vividly dramatic performances that really reached over the footlights along with the sophisticated sounds of Les Talens Lyriques
Mozart's great final opera, La clemenza di Tito has never had the regular place in the repertoire that it deserves. Coming after the three great Da Ponte operas and Die Zauberflöte the opera can seem something of a step backwards, towards the type of opera Mozart was writing in his teens. Following the premiere of Idomeneo in 1781, Mozart had a wish (unfulfilled) to rework the opera in a more Gluckian cast and something of this survives in the changes he made for the 1786 performance in Vienna with a tenor Idamante. The fascination with reworking traditional opera seria did not go away and whilst La clemenza di Tito seems a world away from Don Giovanni (both premiered in the same theatre in Prague), the libretto makes definitive moves away from Metastasio.
The opera remained popular after Mozart's death and was the first of his operas to reach London, in 1806, but in all probability it was not performed there again until the St Pancras Festival in 1957! Anthony Besch's 1974 production at Covent Garden played an important role in the rediscovery of the opera and this remained in production until 1989. Richard Jones's 2021 production there [see my review] does not seem set to take classic status. The work has been performed by English National Opera and by English Touring Opera but only Glyndebourne seems to keep the faith (their most recent outing was 2017, see my review). Otherwise, it is a festival work. Performed at the Edinburgh Festival last year, this year there are two different outings. Buxton Festival will be presenting two performances in July, and the Grange Festival has invited Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques to perform the work.
Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques were giving two performances at the Grange Festival (we caught the first on 9 June 2026) in association with Mozartfest Würzburg where they perform the work later this week. Rousset had assembled a very international cast. English tenor Jeremy Ovenden was Tito, Greek soprano Aphrodite Patoulidou was Vitellia, Russian-Lebanese soprano Anna El-Khashem was Servilia, Spanish mezzo-soprano Maite Beaumont was Sesto, French mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré was Annio and French bass-baritone Adrien Fournaison was Publio, with the Mozartfest Würzburg Choir.
The orchestra was on stage, which was a real treat, with Rousset also providing continuo piano. The backdrop, however, was a simple black curtain and the sound sometimes felt a little recessed, particularly when it came to the woodwind. The soloists were along the front stage, with scores and music stands. Thankfully these were hardly used and there was a drama and freedom to the presentation. Jeremy Ovenden barely used a score whilst Aphrodite Patoulidou's Vitellia prowled around the stage in a dramatically intense manner.
There are various ways of playing Vitellia, she can be nobly hard done by or positively scheming. Patoulidou managed to dominate Act One, despite the paucity of arias, because of her command of recitative. In fact the whole cast threw themselves into these and created a sense of vivid drama. Patoulidou made Vitellia wonderfully vituperative and manipulative. She made a powerful and intense contribution to the trio in Act One when Vitellia realises that her thirst for vengeance has made things go awry. Patoulidou has a lithe voice which achieved surprising power, yet there was remarkable delicacy in the passagework too. Her top notes could sometimes have hint of the resinous about them, yet this simply added to the range of colour and her final great aria 'Non più di fiori' was compelling/
Maite Beaumont brought a surprising depth of tone and strength to Sesto, making him seem less the manipulated puppet. 'Parto parto' was finely shaped and developed real intensity though the basset clarinet's sound was a little to recessed for my taste. In Act Two, Sesto's main aria comes quite late but Beaumont made every note count in the recitatives and ensembles. This was a remarkable performance, combining strength and vitality with finely phrased material. Throughout the second act she made Sesto's dilemma truly apparent.
Jeremy Ovenden sang Tito with a nicely heroic sense of line and some bravura moments in the passagework. This Tito was anything but boring and his nobility in Act One gave way to something far more interesting as Act Two progressed and Ovenden made Tito's recitatives with Beaumont's Sesto into something compelling. We were aware that this was a meaty drama of issues rather than a black box with librettist moving characters around.
In Act One, Ambroisine Bré's Annio was simply a man charmingly in love. But come Act Two things get more tricky as Annio has more intense arias, first trying to persuade Sesto to turn to Tito and admit his crime, and then to Tito asking him to forgive Sesto. Bré did not disappoint, and both arias were full of beauty and nuance. In fact, throughout Act Two she made Annio develop both dramatically and musically.
Servilia is perhaps the most morally daring character in the drama as she tells Tito the truth about Annio's love for her. Anna El-Khashem brought a wide-eyed innocence to the character yet allied to fine phrasing and a sense of daring. Even quite late in the opera she is unafraid to upbraid Vitellia (though done most beautifully) and of course the result is Vitellia's great final rondo.
The role of Publio is hardly the most dramatic but Adrien Fournaison (here deprived of Publio's aria) was a commanding presence on stage, radiating strength and dignity. The chorus of eight was a discreet yet supportive presence.
From the opening notes of the overture it was clear that Rousset's vision of the music mixed lithe lightness and clarity with strong accents and expression. There was a hint of Sturm und Drang to the overture and throughout the evening the orchestra was a vivid presence. And where Mozart did allow orchestral expansion beyond a single aria, such is in the finales to both acts, Rousset drew the music into a striking whole. With Rousset's piano and cello, the recitatives had real impetus to them and in many ways were the heart of this drama.
Hearing operas in concert is not necessarily ideal, but this performance made a virtue of necessity and benefited from a group of soloists whose performances really reached over the footlights.
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