Idomeneo for Mozart’s Birthday – 270th Anniversary

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A traditional tribute to a genius of classical music takes on an unexpectedly fresh form: this time, the spotlight falls on his lesser-known yet gripping opera Idomeneo. The work, recently introduced to Prague audiences in a new staging at the State Opera in September 2025, will now be presented in a concert performance.

Musicologist and Mozart scholar Alfred Einstein described Idomeneo as “a pure explosion of musical invention,” and Mozart himself considered it one of his finest achievements in musical drama. Indeed, Idomeneo stands not only as the first great pinnacle of his operatic output, but also as a crucial step toward personal artistic freedom. The young composer composed the opera in Munich — far from his native Salzburg, far from his strict father Leopold, and far from his autocratic employer, Archbishop Colloredo. For the first time, he could fully assert his own artistic vision. And more than that: the success of the opera’s premiere in January 1781 in Munich gave him the confidence and courage to pursue the path of an independent artist. The final decade of his life would be spent as a free composer in Vienna.