Idomeneo

About

State Opera Chorus
State Opera Orchestra
National Theatre Opera Ballet

Although W. A. Mozart wrote Idomeneo to commission for the Munich court and Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria, a keen patron of the arts, who chose the subject himself, the opera is probably his most personal work (with the patriarchal system of blind obedience and a rebellion of the young seeming to evoke the composer’s tense relationship with his father Leopold), featuring excellently crafted characters. All the main protagonists are confronted with their own weaknesses or inability to defy fate. In the wake of the Trojan War, Idomeneo, King of Crete, made a fateful vow to Neptune, God of the Sea, to be executed should he arrive home safely. Just like the Old Testament’s Jephthah and Abraham, he faces the dilemma of whether to sacrifice his own child or to offend a god. Idomeneo ultimately yields, ready to kill his son, Idamante. Prince Idamante is in love with Ilia, daughter of Priam, the defeated King of Troy, who has lost her family and homeland in the war. Ilia is fond of Idamante, but hesitates to acknowledge her love of an enemy, whose father Idomeneo helped Achilles and Odysseus take Troy. Elettra, daughter of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, is wildly jealous of Ilia, and intends to win Idamante at any cost. Mozart rendered the heroes’ extreme emotions by means of ravishingly powerful music. He and the librettist Giovanni Battista Varesco ended the Ancient Greek story happily: Idomeneo’s old order gives way to the rule of love and reason, with Idamante and Ilia ascending the throne. 

Premiered in Munich on 29 January 1781, Idomeneo is considered Mozart’s first true opera masterpiece. It was first performed in Prague in October 1887, at the Estates Theatre. The current production has been undertaken by the German conductor Konrad Junghänel, who will collaborate with the National Theatre Opera for the very first time, and the Spanish director Calixto Bieito, who has previously worked in Prague on several occasions (Flames, Katya Kabanova, Jenůfa).

Coproduction with La Monnaie / De Munt

Premiere performances: 25 and 28 September 2025 at the State opera

Cast

Conductor: Konrad Junghänel, Richard Hein

Idomeneo: Evan LeRoy Johnson

Idamante: Rebecka Wallroth

Ilia: Jekatěrina Krovatěva

Elettra: Petra Alvarez Šimková

High Priest of Neptune: Petr Nekoranec, Eduard Kácal

The voice of the Oracle: Zdeněk Plech

First Trojan: Benjamín Hájek, Michael Skalický

Second Trojan: Martin Kreuz, Dalibor Pavelka

First Cretan women: Lucia Bildová, Markéta Frýdová

Creators

Stage director: Calixto Bieito

Sets: Anna-Sofia Kirsch

Costume design: Paula Klein

Light design: Reinhard Traub

Video design: Adria ReixachLukáš Panoch

Chorus master: Zuzana Kadlčíková

Dramaturgy: Jitka Slavíková