I am so pleased to introduce you to this lovely early Mozart opera, Il Re Pastore, composed by the 19 year old Mozart for 3 sopranos and 2 tenors. It tells the story of the shepherd Amyntas who is living a blissful pastoral life with the young shepherdess Elisa as his future bride, when he is discovered by Alexander the Great and his side kick Agenor. They tell Amyntas that he is actually the orphaned son of a King and is therefore eligible to inherit his kingdom. Amyntas who is devoted to Elisa and his life as a shepherd is torn between the simple life with Elisa and the life of power and influence offered by Alexander the Great.

There is also a parallel story of the character Tamiris, a princess in hiding who is in love with Agenor and to whom Alexander feels some guilt and responsibility. The opera of course leads to the usual misunderstandings and good intensions that have to be resolved with a bit of direct communication from the heart. It is not a spoiler to say it all ends happily ever after but of course not until we have had some extraordinarily beautiful arias and ensembles.

Mark Carter will be directing an orchestra of 11 players and Catherine Norton will be accompanying the recitatives.

I cannot tell you how much I love the singing of REBECCA RYAN! She is one of my most favourite singers in the world for this repertoire. Her role includes the beautiful aria ” L’Amero” with violin obligato, an aria to die for!

Elizabeth Mandeno returns to Days Bay to sing the role of the shepherdess Elisa after her stunning performances in 2021 as Amina in La Sonnambula.

I am able to confirm our star tenor singing the virtuosic role of the Great Alexander is Ridge Ponini.

These three stars are joined by a pair of young Wellington singers. I have Bayley Goldstone singing the role of Agenore and Sinead Louise Keane singing the exotic Princess Tamiris.