Opera in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
With Hany Abdelzaher, Sofija Almazova, Muratkan Atam, Ghazal Kazemi, Yaonjae Kim, Namil Kim, Erik Rousi, Aleksandra Szmyd, Eyrun Unnarsdottir, Xin Wang, and others. As well as choir and symphony orchestra of MUK.
In cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology.
Director: Dominique Mentha
Stage Design and Costums: Ingrid Erb
Conductor: Niels Muus
Visuals (TU Wien): Peter Ferschin
Team TU: Peter Ferschin, Ingrid Erb, Markus Schütz, Anja Wutte, and students (Carolina Crijns, Tina Bosse-Büchling, Jasmin Redl, Simina Antonia Nicolaescu, Patrick Wäsler, Cosma Grosser, Theo Banda, Lauren Janko, Oana Rotariu)
Date: Saturday, 12.05.2018, 19: 00h
Venue: Theater Akzent Theresianumgasse 18, 1040 Vienna
Ticket prices: € 25, – / 20, – / 15, – (reduced € 18, – / 14, – / 10, -)
Other dates:
Sunday 13.05.2018, 19: 00h
Monday 14.05.2018, 19: 00h
Tuesday 15.05.2018, 19: 00h
Content: On his return home from the Trojan War, Cretan king Idomeneo finds himself in distress. In order to survive, he swears to the god of the sea, Poseidon, to sacrifice to him the first human who will meet him after his rescue – it’s his son Idamante. The attempt to deceive the gods to save the life of Idamante fails. Poseidon is incensed, destroys Idomeneo’s fleet in a storm and demands his life. In the end, the oracle proclaims the conciliatory solution: all may keep their lives if Idomeneo abdicates as king and leaves the throne to his son.
Genesis: With Idomeneo, the 25-year-old Mozart was able to prove his musical-dramatic talent in a major opera seria. The story is based on the French tragedy Idoménée by Antonio Danchet. He himself chose for this the priest Giambattista Varesco as a librettist, who lives at the Salzburg Archbishop Cathedral. He translated most of the recitatives from French, but wrote all the arias and ensembles new. Mozart himself intervened heavily in the libretto, because he wanted to break with old rules and create something completely new and exciting.
The world premiere on 29 January 1781 at the Munich Residenz Theater was a great success. Elector Karl Theodor is said to have said to Mozart: “One should not think that there is such a big thing in such a small head.”
