2018 Festival: Mozart & Salieri
Opera’s greatest rivals, or Opera’s greatest co-workers? Mozart and Salieri simultaneously served as important musicians in the Viennese Court Theater for years in the late 18th century, alongside their colleague, librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. This year, we tell the story of two of opera’s most famous rivals (or most productive colleagues!). Don Giovanni, Mozart’s iconic operatic #metoo tale is followed by Salieri’s playful La Cifra (The Code)… a hidden gem of an opera about a hidden gem of a young woman. The repertory season encompassing 13 total performances also includes “Vignettes from Vienna,” a scenes program featuring not only works by the two Vienna court composers, but also Rimsky-Korsakov’s one-act opera Mozart & Salieri (based on a short Pushkin play), bringing the two composers to life (and one “to death”) on stage. On the penultimate day of the festival, Sacred & Profane: Songs and Ephemera gathers religious and sacrilegious works of both composers in an afternoon recital including “Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia” – a cantata written jointly by Mozart, Salieri, and “Cornetti” with a libretto by Da Ponte, plus magnificent songs of Mozart, canons of Salieri, and other rarities both sublime and ridiculous.