The title role of “Mitridate” is by far the most difficult Mozart role and one of the hardest of the entire tenor repertoire. It requires extreme security in the high register, as it is constantly going up to high Bs and high Cs, and a strong middle and low register, too. Teatro Real‘s production featured tenor Siyabonga Maqungo in the titular role.

In his aria, “Se di lauri,” he showed his leggero voice, which has a pure quality with a fine vibrato. His impossible interval jumps from low D to high A natural and low A to high B natural were clean and beautiful. He raised up comfortably to high C during “di vergogna” and interpolated a trill in a high B natural at the end of the aria. It was quite noticeable that his voice was more comfortable in the upper register as his low Ds and Es were inaudible. He received the first applause of the night after his opening aria.

Maqungo was notably more comfortable and his voice shined in his second aria, “Quel ribelle,” which requires legato singing and not the extreme intervals from the first aria, and keeps the voice mostly in the high register navigating constantly between high G and high A. He imprinted the aria with bravura and power. And showed once more his facility in the higher register by singing the last line in an impossible variation going up to high D natural, passing through high B natural and C sharp. His next aria, “Tu che fedel,” went back to a crazy impossible writing, demanding an interval from low C to high B flat, and a straight direct attack to a high C in “Serbami.” Although his low register was quite weak, he emitted a perfect secure and clean high C in the mentioned line. He sang with sweetness and fluid soaring lines the slow sections of the aria, holding a pianissimo F in “quell core.” The aria: “Già di pieta mi spoglio,” kept a high tessitura but without the crazy extreme writing, but the tenor interpolated a secure but exposed high D before the repetition of the aria and several high Cs. I just don’t understand why the conductor Ivor Bolton allowed him to end in a high C in alt, in a fifth interval, as it is considered completely out of style. It’s bright and thrilling when a tenor holds a high C at the end of an aria, but Mozart’s compositions always resolved down.

His next aria, “Vado incontro,” goes back to crazy jumps from low notes to extreme high B naturals and high Cs. This aria has seven written high Cs. But Maqungo had already demonstrated his secure and strong high register, and therefore the aria sounded easy and effortless.

Soprano Ruth Iniesta as Aspasia opened with the first aria of the night: “Al destin que la Minaccia.” She has a lirico-leggero voice with a dark timbre and a marked vibrato. Her wide marked vibrato turns the multiple fast scales into a blurred consequence of sounds, while Mozart demands perfect clarity in every line. Her voice increases in volume in the high register so her cadenzas’ scales where like a crescendo from low to high, while every note should be heard clearly defined. The ending of some scales, finishing in a high C like the first “opressa” sounded strident and her vibrato made the pitch dubious. Her low register is really weak, and the first aria demands singing from a low D to a high C. Her low Ds and Es were non existent. She is a very clever singer, and conscious of the qualities of her voice and therefore her variation on the repetition were several staccato notes, going up to high Cs and a high D. Her final interpolated cadenza was a capella and showed once more her wide vibrato and strident high Cs.

Her third act aria: “palli d’ombre” suited her voice perfectly, as it is quite central, it is slow and has no coloratura. Therefore the voice sounded more controlled and round. She sang with noticeable emotion and pathos. It was by far the highlight of her interpretation.

Her second aria, “Nel sen mi palpita,” with a central writing and less coloratura seemed more adequate for her instrument which sounded more rounded and consistent. Her voice sounded more adequate for Donizzeti’s “Lucrezia Borgia” than for “Mitridate.” The aria “Nel grave tormento” was just the same: unclean coloratura, strident high Cs and dubious pitch for her excessive vibrato. But she succeeded in the staccato ascensions to high Cs in “quest’alma” as her voice sounded controlled and secure.

Her intention of controlling her voice in the duet: “Se viver non degg’io” was unsuccessful. Her voice kept sounding strident and uncontrolled in the higher register

The role of Sifare was sang by soprano Vanessa Goikoetxea. She began her opening aria with an astonishing crescendo in her first sustained F in: “Soffre il mio cor” but as she sang the first high B natural in “cor con pace” she showed her dark powerful sound, which is quite far from Mozart’s style. Her voice sounded too big and strong for the clarity and purity of sound that Mozart demands. But she must be very conscious of her voice qualities and therefore in the several sections of this aria that demands staccato high notes and fast roulades, she restrained her volume and sang in a beautiful mezza-voce for all the coloratura. In her final interpolated cadenza she went from a high B natural to a sonorous low B in a spectacular two octave jump. But she sang her second aria: “Parto, nel gran cimento” with violence and aggressiveness and her voice sounded too big and powerful, lacking the delicacy of Mozart’s style. It was beautiful when she sang in soaring pianissimo the repetition: “Parto…” She sang the aria: “Lungi da te” with delicacy, controlling her big and dark sound, although her ascensions to high A naturals in: “O cara” sounded extremely potent breaking the sweetness of the piece. On the other hand she sang the whole line: “non rammentar le pene che provi o cara, in te” in a soaring mezza voce and her high register (A and B naturals) sounded crystalline and bright. It is when she sings in full voice that her voice sounds inadequate for Mozart’s writing and style. But she controlled her voice wisely in the duet: “Se viver non degg’io,” sounding sweet and bright. The aria: “Se il rigor” requires clean coloratura and bright high notes. But the soprano didn’t succeed in singing forte for the whole aria, as her voice sounded too loud, strident at some points. And she took the wrong choice of finishing the aria in a high C in alt, which turned out to be sharp in pitch and with an unstable fast vibrato.

The counter tenor Tim Mead performed the role of Farnace. In his opening aria: “Venga pur” he showed his powerful middle and lower register in a piece which is written inside the stave, and which demands going down to a low B flat. His sound is even and round, and he sings clearly and clean the attack of the notes and the interval jumps that this aria demands. But his voice is not comfortable singing up the stave and therefore he avoided the optional high A natural and just kept F as the highest note of the aria. His third act aria: “Già dagli occhi il velo” gave Mead the chance to fill the music with sadness and melancholy in a central and low tessitura that he controls perfectly and which was the big last scene at the end of the opera.

He easily sang the aria: “Va, va, l’error…” which is written for the low register, keeping the voice between low A natural and central E, with passion and determination. His next aria: “Son reo” kept the same standards of central and low writing that the counter tenor controls very well.

Soprano Sabina Puértolas as Ismene opened with an immaculate interpretation of her first aria: “In facia alloggetto,” imprinting her lyrico leggera voice with sweetness and control, being perfect in style, with a clarity of the attack and the singing of the coloratura. She controls her volume to make the voice sound complete even throughout her whole register, emitting beautiful round high B naturals at the end of the several scales. Her voice sounded effortless and bright. She interpolated a high C sharp in the final cadenza. Her aria: “se quanto a te dispiace” was full of coloratura and long lines of fast scales. It was a bravura aria. She sang with immaculate perfection, with a strong determination, and interpolated a high D in the final cadenza. She received the strongest applause of the night up to this point.

The character of Marzio sings several recitatives and a single aria: “Se di regnar si vago” which is probably one of the hardest arias of the Mozart repertoire. The aria is full of coloratura (It sounds more Rossini than Mozart) which navigates constantly around high  A natural and B natural. Tenor Jorge Franco did marvelous vocal work, with clean fast scales, easy and bright high notes. But to my surprise the aria was severely cut. He basically sang half of what was written, so he didn’t have the chance to interpolate variations. I don’t understand the reasons for severely cutting this piece when it is the only aria that this character sings and the singer was doing a great job.

A new production of a rarely performed Mozart opera with a cast which lacked Mozart’s style of singing, but that attended to the extreme demands of their roles, which are extremely difficult for the use of coloratura and the use of the whole voice from the lowest to the highest register.