Idomeneo

Can all wounds truly heal? And how is it possible to continue living after the destruction and devastation of war? The characters in Mozart's monumental masterpiece from 1781 have experienced terrible things: violence, deportation, a traumatic natural disaster, and a tragic oath in which personal sacrifice must be weighed against the common good.

At the center of the conflict is Idomeneo, King of Crete, who returns victorious from Troy after ten years of war. A pact with the sea god Neptune demands an agonizing commitment from him: to save his men and prisoners of war from a dangerous storm, he must sacrifice the life of the first person he encounters at home. Fate decrees that his son, Idamante, is waiting for him on the beach. He is actually promised to Elettra, but falls in love with the Trojan princess Ilia. Idomeneo attempts to avoid human sacrifice, which leads to chaos and disease among the population. Meanwhile, the younger generation is searching for a way to overcome the divides and injuries that trauma has caused both between people and in individual souls.

Mozart portrays the characters' inner conflict with great precision. In contrast, the people demand their rights in the powerful choral passages. In his first production for the TLT, the successful British-Austrian director Henry Mason explores the close interplay of socio-political, psychological, and spiritual.

Recommended for ages 14 and up

program

Idomeneo
Dramma per musica in drei Akten von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto von Giambattista Varesco (nach Antoine Danchets Textbuch zur Tragédie en musique Idoménée von André Campra)
In italienischer Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln

Place

Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck (English: Tyrolean State Theatre) is the state theatre in Innsbruck, Austria, located near the historic Altstadt (Old Town) section of the city. The theatre is surrounded by Imperial Hofburg, the Hofgarten, and SOWI Faculty of the University of Innsbruck. The main theatre has about 800 seats and the studio theatre in the basement has around 250. Plays, operas, operettas, musicals and dance theatre are performed at the theatre.