10/22/2008: "Opera Concert Up Close & Affordable In Friday Harbor"

Friday Harbor Presbyterian Church is pleased to host the Puget Sound Concert Opera as it performs Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the church on Saturday, October 25 at 2:00 PM.

La Clemenza di Tito is a fascinating tale of deception, political intrigue, and a devious assassination plot, culminating in the noble gesture of the great Roman emperor, Titus.

Puget Sound Concert Opera dedicates itself to performing operas concert style with piano. The concert opera format is family-friendly, allowing audience members to see, hear and feel the music up close and personal. Friday Harbor’s own renowned singer, Corinne Stevens, will be performing. Suggested donation for the performance is $15 general audience, $10 for students and seniors.

The Story
The story is dominated by two considerations: the determination of the deposed Emperor's daughter, Vitellia, herself in love with current emperor Tito, to have revenge on him when he seems about to marry another; and the inclination of Tito to show clemency, no matter what the provocation.

Vitellia knows of Tito's plan to marry Berenice, daughter of Agrippa I of Judea. She urges Sesto, who is in love with her, to lead a conspiracy against the Emperor. He reluctantly agrees. Annio enters and asks his friend, Sesto, to intercede on his behalf with Tito regarding his desire to marry Sesto's sister, Servilia, but Sesto is forestalled when he discovers that Tito has decided to marry Servilia himself. Upon receiving this news, Servilia declares her love for Annio to Tito. The Emperor then renounces her and decides to marry Vitellia instead. Vitellia, who has no knowledge of this, sends Sesto off to set fire to the Capitol and murder Tito only to hear, a moment after Sesto leaves, that the Emperor has decided to make her Empress. Sesto succeeds in setting fire to the Capitol, but mistakenly murders another man wearing Tito's mantle. Act I ends in confusion.

Act II begins with the knowledge that Tito has escaped with his life and the details of the plot have been revealed to him. Annio advises Sesto to throw himself at the Emperor's mercy, but Vitellia, anxious to conceal her participation, urges him to flee the country. Before Sesto can make a decision, Pubblio arrives to arrest him. Sesto is tried by the Senate and condemned to death. Tito confronts Sesto and in the end, tears up the death sentence. After a firm lecture from Servilia, Vitellia is filled with remorse and confesses her part of the plot to Tito. The Emperor, in a great and magnanimous gesture, also offers her clemency.