Reviewed: 19 July 2026
A mainly young cast brings out the dramatic strengths in a semi-staging of Mozart's late opera with compelling performances from Maria Stella Maurizi and Indyana Schneider
Like the Grange Festival [see my review] last month, Buxton International Festival (BIF) has opted to explore Mozart's late masterpiece, La clemenza di Tito via a pair of concert performances (seen 19 July 2026). Adrian Kelly, artistic director of the Festival, conducted the BIF Orchestra (which mixes seasoned professionals with early career players) and the concert staging was directed by Corina Würsch who as assistant director/movement director on the Festival's recent production of Verdi's La traviata. Würsch was also movement director for Blackheath Halls Opera's 2025 production of Gluck's Iphigenia in Tauris [see my review].
Adrian Kelly is also head of the International Opera Studio (IOS) at Zurich Opera and the casting leveraged this connection. Italian soprano Maria Stella Maurizi (Vitellia) and Australian mezzo-soprano Indyana Schneider (Sesto) are current members of the IOS Zurich whilst New Zealand-born baritone Samson Setu (Publio) is a former member. Tito was played by French tenor Xavier Mas with Frances Gregory (whom we recently saw as Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo with Chelsea Opera Group, see my review) as Annio and Jessica Lawley as Servilia.
The orchestra was on stage which helped put them centre stage for once, though the sound was perhaps a little recessed. Adrian Kelly played the forte piano recitatives and the instrument a little too discreet for the space.
The acting space was a wide strip in front of the orchestra with Würsch's production concentrating on basics. The result was some admirably character-led drama. Costumes were simply variants of modern concert dress, though it was perhaps a trifle confusing to have Maria Stella Maurizi's Vitellia wearing trousers (albeit very elegantly) when two other women in the cast played en travestie. The chorus was off-stage for the conclusion of Act One but for the other appearances the singers efficiently filed on and off stage left.
Maurizi has already sung Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni and there is a dramatic undertow to her voice which made her Vitellia a striking portrayal. Very flirty with Indyana Schneider's Sesto in Act One, Maurizi made a surprisingly sympathetic Vitellia yet brought an intensity to her arias. She was strong indeed in the accompanied recitatives, making a particular impact in the ensemble towards the end of Act One where Vitellia realises her mistake in sending Sesto off to attack Tito. However in 'Non piu di fiori' her passagework was somewhat laboured but overall this was a significant dramatic achievement.
She was balanced by Indyana Schneider's poised, well-modulated Sesto. Her reaction to Maurizi's Vitellia's flirting in Act One was low key with a nice subtlety to 'Parto, parto'. Yet there was a sense of commitment to this Sesto allied to a stylish way with Mozart. During Act Two, Schneider's performance grew with moving intensity and determination.
As Tito, Xavier Mas was somewhat disappointing. He sang in a grand histrionic way that was perhaps intended to convey Tito's grandeur but felt mannered against the more immediate performances of the other cast members. There was little sense of Tito's personal crises and Mas struggled somewhat in the passagework in Tito's big Act Two aria.
Frances Gregory made an engaging Annio, somewhat anxious and rather soft-grained of tone yet never reticent. Touching with Jessica Lawley's Servilia in Act One, she made a strong impression in her scene with Sesto at the opening of Act Two. Jessica Lawley was a discreet Servilia, yet she had the strength to say 'no' to Tito in Act One then in Act Two her aria was touching indeed. Samson Setu made a strongly characterful Publio, impressing in his aria.
Adrian Kelly and the orchestra brought a fleetness and lightness to the music, keeping the drama flowing, with fine clarinet solos in Sesto and Vitellia's arias. Kelly ensured that the remarkable final scenes in Act One made their dramatic impact. That the end of Act Two did not have quite the same effect was partly down to Xavier Mas's Tito not quite engaging our sympathies.
Overall this was a impressive achievement. More than simply a concert, the performance showed Mozart's opera as drama bringing out the strengths of the ensembles and accompanied recitatives.
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Elsewhere on this blog
- Compelling music drama: Wagner's Tristan und Isolde returns to Longborough Festival Opera with Peter Wedd & Catharine Woodward, conductor Anthony Negus - opera review
- Conducting is a profession of lifelong learning: Vasily Petrenko on nurturing talent & broadening horizons - feature
- Style & enjoyment: John Wilson & Sinfonia of London bring Cheltenham Music Festival to a close with a light music programme culminating in Eric Coates's rarity Cinderella - concert review
- Gutsy & vivid: Verdi's La traviata at St Paul's Opera imaginatively reinvents the work as parable of punk London - opera review
- Giulio Cesare at the Grange: superb music performances compensate for David Alden's scattershot approach to Handel's masterpiece - opera review
- It's all about the music: Opera Holland Park chorus & City of London Sinfonia on terrific form under Naomi Woo in celebratory Turandot - review
- Concertos for friends: Colin Currie in Tansy Davies, Tamsin Waley-Cohen in Freya Waley-Cohen with BBC NOW at Aldeburgh Festival - review
- Powerful moments: Paul Wingfield directs Chelsea Opera Group in an impressive account of Mozart's Idomeneo - opera review
- From Young Apollo to the Cello Symphony to the Poet's Echo to Phaedra: Britten from Britten Sinfonia at Aldeburgh Festival - review
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