Mozart's IDOMENEO Returns to the Metropolitan Opera This Month

Mozart's first operatic masterpiece, Idomeneo, will return to the Met stage for six performances September 28-October 20.

Manfred Honeck, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a maestro steeped in the Viennese tradition, makes his American opera debut. A distinguished cast of leading Mozarteans make noteworthy Met role debuts, including tenor Michael Spyres in the title role of the king of Crete; soprano Ying Fang as Ilia, the hostage Trojan princess; soprano Federica Lombardi as the Greek princess Elettra; mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey as Idomeneo's son, Idamante; tenor Paolo Fanale as Idomeneo's confidant, Arbace; and tenor Issachah Savage as the High Priest. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 1982 production, the Met's first staging of the opera, blends the grandeur of ancient myth with the elegance of Enlightenment ideals.

Idomeneo received its debut performance at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich in 1781 two days after Mozart's 25th birthday, starring the great tenor Anton Raaff. A concert version of the opera was staged at the Palais Auersperg in Vienna in 1786, for which Mozart made some adjustments to the score.

Idomeneo Worldwide Broadcasts on Radio and Online

The October 6 and 20 performances of Idomeneo will be broadcast live on Metropolitan Opera Radio on SiriusXM Channel 355. The April 22, 2023, broadcast will also be over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network.

Audio from the October 20 performance will be streamed live on the Met's website, metopera.org.

Photo credit: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

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