News & Reviews
Release date: 13 October
“Ian Page and the Orchestra of Classical Opera have an unerring knack for making the most of the young Mozart’s characterful music.” GRAMOPHONE
Classical Opera continues its critically acclaimed complete Mozart opera recording series on Signum Classics with the one-act dramatic serenade Il sogno di Scipione, K. 126. Conductor and artistic director Ian Page has assembled a cast comprising current Associate Artists soprano Soraya Mafi (Fortuna) and tenor Stuart Jackson (Scipio), as well as sopranos Klara Ek (Costanza) and Chiara Skerath (two licenza arias) and tenors Krystian Adam (Publio) and Robert Murray (Emilio).
The sixth release in the series, following recordings of Apollo et Hyacinthus, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, Mitridate, re di Ponto, Il re pastore and Zaide, Il sogno di Scipione is set in c.148 BC and was written as a homage to the Archbishop of Salzburg. It tells the story of the Roman general Scipio, a guest in the palace of his ally Massinissa, King of Numidia (in modern day Tunisia). As Scipio falls into a deep sleep, he dreams that the allegorical figures of Fortuna (Fortune) and Costanza (Constancy) appear to him in Elysium and demand that he should choose one of them to follow for the rest of his days.
Mozart’s dramatic genius shows itself in two framing devices he uses to set up the story – the gradual subsidence of the overture into an unresolved hush depicting Scipio falling into a deep sleep, and the remarkable accompanied recitative in which Scipio eventually stirs from his dream – in which he composes music of sublime beauty and haunting otherworldliness.
Ian Page says:
“In his early operas Mozart already demonstrates an unerring ability to match the scale and ambition of the music to the widely differing circumstances for which each work was written, no less so in Il sogno di Scipione. Mozart’s vocal writing is often virtuosic and demanding, and the orchestra already plays a dynamic role in evoking character and emotion.”
Il sogno di Scipione follows the much lauded ‘Perfido!’, a collection of concert arias by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven sung by soprano Sophie Bevan with Ian Page’s The Mozartists, a new extension of Classical Opera reflecting their expanding concert work and broadening exploration of the music of Mozart and his contemporaries. The ensemble’s Launch Concert at Wigmore Hall will feature Associate Artist Louise Alder, winner of the Young Singer award at the 2017 International Opera Awards and the Audience Prize at the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, in arias by Mozart and Gluck on 18 September.
The release of Il sogno di Scipione coincides with Classical Opera’s twentieth anniversary season, with a celebratory Birthday Concert featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Miah Persson, Anna Devin, Claudia Huckle, Stuart Jackson and Henry Waddington taking place at the Barbican on 9 October.
For further press information, review copies and pictures please contact:
Victoria Bevan / 020 3077 4947 / Victoria@albion-media.com
Watch a short video on the recording of Il sogno di Scipione
Notes to editors:
About Classical Opera & The Mozartists
Classical Opera, founded in 1997 under the direction of Ian Page, is one of the world’s leading exponents of the works of Mozart and his contemporaries. It is renowned for its vibrant, fresh and stylish performances, for its ability to discover and nurture outstanding young artists, and for its imaginative and illuminating programming.
Following the launch of Ian Page’s ground-breaking MOZART 250 and a broadening of repertoire, incorporating symphonies and concertos, oratorios and concert arias as well as operas, the company launched The Mozartists in 2017 to reflect and facilitate this expanding strand of work on the concert platform.
