
Today at RNCM we have started production rehearsals for our scene of Mitridate Re di Ponto, an opera that Mozart wrote when he was 13(!). The plot is basically about two brothers (Sifare and Farnace) who are both in love with their father Mitridate’s fiance (Aspasia), and who think he has died at war. Aspasia quite likes Sifare but she does not like Farnace. Sifare tries to be loyal to his brother and to his father but deep down he really loves Aspasia. Farnace decides to betray them all to the Romans before ultimately confessing the error of his ways. The extract we are doing has me singing Farnace’s first aria, the 8 minute long beast “Venga Pur”. In it Farnace is basically ranting about his father, saying “let him come and find me, see if I care”. I suppose daddy issues are something the 13 year old Mozart knew well.