Sisters, Lovers & Traitors: INO in Maynooth
I don’t often get the chance to attend a concert in Maynooth, but I did this evening when I went to the Aula Maxima on Maynooth University South Campus for a performance of arias and duets from Mozart operas by singers from Irish National Opera.
The artists involved were Anna Devin (Soprano), Sharon Carty (Mezzo), and Gianluca Margheri (Baritone) . All were excellent, but I particularly loved Italian Gianluca Margheri’s richly sonorous voice. Fine accompaniment was provided on the piano by Finghin Collins (who, incidentally, last featured on this blog in an item about a very different type of music).
INO are currently rehearsing their forthcoming production of Cosi fan tutte which provided the first four pieces; it features two sisters of course, Fiordiligi and Dorabella. These were followed by a selection from Le nozzle di Figaro, including the lovely duet Sull’aria. The final two pieces were from La clemenza di Tito, a much less familiar work, which was composed at roughly the same time as The Magic Flute and is arguably Mozart’s final opera.
The encore was a trio performance of Là ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni, usually a duet but in this case with the part of Zerlina shared between Anna Devin and Sharon Carty.
It was a very enjoyable programme, very well received by the audience, and an ideal break from a busy end-of-term schedule, especially on a rainy night like tonight. Now, I must remember to get tickets for Cosi fan tutte to give me a break from examination marking!
Follow @telescoper
In the Dark 
May 4, 2023 at 11:51 pm
I believe that Mozart composed La Clemenza di Tito in less than three weeks, some of it in a coach from Vienna to Prague, where the premiere took place. (Don Giovanni also premiered there in an opera house at which a paid a tenner for a black market ticket in 1994.) What a staggering genius Mozart was! But Titus was not particularly clement if you look at the fate of Jerusalem in AD70.
May 5, 2023 at 7:43 am
It struck me that the last two pieces were clearly of a very different style from the others. One reason is that Tito is an opera seria rather than buffa, but more than that it’s because Mozart was evolving. Sadly we’ll never know what he might have done had he lived longer.
May 5, 2023 at 10:08 am
There are some analyses of the last movement of his last symphony (‘Jupiter’) on YouTube which show how he interweaves five themes at the climax. I knew from childhood that there was a lot going on in a majestic way at that point, but when I saw it unpicked and put back together again it took my breath away.
June 5, 2025 at 8:15 pm
[…] number Una Furtiva Lagrima in Act II. Belcore was baritone Gianluca Margheri (whom I saw perform in Maynooth a couple of years ago). His physique matches the muscular quality of his voice, and he wasn’t shy in showing it off […]