Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ at Carib 5 tomorrow
MET MUSIC director emeritus James Levine will conduct Mozart's Idomeneo. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's Met premiere staging, first seen in 1982, will star Matthew Polenzani in his Met role debut as the King Idomeneo, with Nadine Sierra in her role debut as Ilia, Elza van den Heever as Elettra, Alice Coote as Idomeneo’s son Idamante, and Alan Opie as Idomeneo’s confidant, Arbace. The March 25 matinee performance will be transmitted worldwide, including to the Carib 5 at 11:55 a.m., as part of the 11th season of the Met's Live in HD series, which now reaches more than 2,000 cinemas in 71 countries around the world.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was the son of a Salzburg court musician and composer, Leopold, who served as his principal teacher and promoted him as a musical prodigy throughout Europe.
The opera unfolds on the island of Crete in the aftermath of the Trojan War.
The era is evocative, reflecting the confusion of a post-traumatic historical moment.
Set at around 1200 BC, it surrounds Idomeneo, King of Crete, who has been fighting on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War for several years. Before his victorious return home, he has sent ahead of him some Trojan captives, including princess Ilia, daughter of the Trojan king, Priam.
She has fallen in love with Idomeneo's son, Idamante, who has ruled as regent in his father’s absence.
DANGER
Also in love with Idamante is princess Elettra. The daughter of Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks during the war.
She has taken refuge in Crete after killing her mother, Clytemnestra, in revenge for her father’s death.
Idomeneo was first staged at the Cuvillies Theatre in Munich in 1781, conducted by the 25-year-old Mozart and starring the great 18th-Century tenor Anton Raaff. In 1786, a concert version of the opera was staged at the Palais Auersperg in Vienna and for this performance, Mozart made some adjustments and additions to the piece which are frequently used in present stagings of the opera.
Tickets are available at the Carib 5 box office, or online at