The multi-skilling of Scottish Chamber Orchestra conductor Maxim Emelyanychev – cueing the singers, directing his musicians and providing virtuoso keyboard continuo – has been a chief joy of the SCO’s concert performances of Mozart operas at recent Edinburgh international festivals. This, likewise, was an utterly involving evening that captured the urgency of La Clemenza di Tito’s speedy composition.
US mezzo Angela Brower brought palpable anguish to the trouser role of Sesto, torn between loyalty to the too-good-to-be-true emperor (tenor Giovanni Sala) and love for the more imperious Vitellia (Tara Erraught). Tito’s search for a faithful consort who meets with the approval of Rome’s citizens, as reported to him by bass Peter Kálmán’s Publio or sung by the excellent SCO Chorus, is further complicated by Servilia (Hera Hyesang Park) already being in love with Annio (Maria Warenberg).
