03/25/17 – Idomeneo – 1pm

Metropolitan Opera

Idomeneo
Composed by  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Giambattista Varesco

• sung in Italian
• ESTIMATED RUN TIME 3 HRS 58 MINS
• front page photo credit: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

“Here is the Met at its best. … [James] Levine conducts, drawing a refined and affecting performance from the great Met orchestra and chorus and an impressive cast” (New York Times). Matthew Polenzani gives a “poignant, gripping performance” (New York Times) as the king torn by a rash vow; mezzo-soprano Alice Coote “exudes noble passion and dignity” (Financial Times) in the trouser role of his son Idamante; soprano Nadine Sierra sings “with expressivity and tenderness” (New York Times) as Ilia; and soprano Elza van den Heever “triumphs” (New York Times) as the volatile Elettra, who loves Idamante to the bounds of madness.

Premiere: Court Theater (now the Cuvilliés Theater), Munich, 1781. Like many stories from Greek myth, Idomeneo explores the motivations and emotions of humans whose fates seem beyond their own control. The opera casts these issues within the framework of the opera seria genre, a stylized format popular in the 18th century that is characterized by a succession of arias and recitatives and a cast of noble characters. Long neglected along with other works of this era, Idomeneo now holds a firm place in the repertoire as the first of Mozart’s operatic masterpieces.