W.A. Mozart “Idomeneo, Re di Creta”
mariinsky theatre st. petersburg
premiere: 13. 02. 2009
stage & costume: renate martin, andreas donhauser
stage director: michael sturminger
who is idomeneo and why are the gods pursuing and punishing him? this is the first question that wolfgang amadeus mozart asks at the start of his opera. without this question, it is impossible to understand why idomeneo, king of crete and one of the greatest greek military men in the trojan war, was prepared to sacrifice his own son to save himself. the second question is connected to peculiarities of the era where the action unfolds. can idomeneo´s story be told with the same heat as in mozart´s time? to what degree do the behaviour and psychological reactions of the opera´s characters interweave with the life experience of audiences today? as may be imagined, there are many such overlappings. the ten-year battle for troy was unusually bloody and cruel, it was close to today´s “total wars” and idomeneo was (like all other military leaders) one of those to commit was crimes. [as found online on mariinsky theatre page]
composer: wolfgang amadeus mozart
musical director: valery gergiev
lighting designer: kurt schöny
video designer: fritz fitzke
with: yevgeny akimov, nadezhda serdyuk, oksana shilova, yekaterina solovieva, yury alekseyev
foto: natasha razina ©2009
mariinsky theatre