Idomeneo, re di Creta Tickets

Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Available Dates: 7 - 23 Feb, 2025 (7 events)

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Acts: 3

Sung in: Italian

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

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Creators

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Choreographer: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Librettist: Giambattista Varesco

Director: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Overview

To save himself during a catastrophic storm, the King of Crete, Idomeneo, promises the god Neptune that he will kill the first man he meets. Unfortunately that man turns out to be his son Idamante. The king is torn between paternal love and his promise to the gods. This fateful dilemma is at the heart of Mozart’s masterpiece, with a starring role for the chorus.

Choreographer and director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is a phenomenon in the international dance and opera scene, and enjoys fame well beyond. He has choreographed for major pop stars such as Beyoncé and Madonna. For Idomeneo, he is working with dancers from his own company Eastman. The sets are designed by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, acclaimed for her impressive thread installations. The constantly evolving structures composed of red ropes that she uses in Idomeneo have deep symbolic meaning. They represent the twists and turns of fate, and determine the space in which the dancers and characters have to manoeuvre.

Laurence Cummings, an expert in historically informed performance practices, makes his debut at Dutch National Opera. He will be conducting the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and the Chorus of Dutch National Opera, guiding them through this fascinating score in which Mozart turns baroque conventions into a modern musical language capable of expressing the deepest of human emotions. The title role will be sung by the much-lauded tenor Daniel Behle, who previously enjoyed great success as the King’s Son in Königskinder and as Lohengrin. The scintillating cast of soloists also includes Cecilia Molinari, Anna El-Khashem and Jacquelyn Wagner, all Mozart singers pur sang.

Co-production with Grand Théâtre de Genève and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg

History

Premiere of this production: 29 January 1781, Cuvilliés Theatre, Munich

Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante (Idomeneus, King of Crete) is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a French text by Antoine Danchet, which had been set to music by André Campra as Idoménée in 1712. Mozart and Varesco were commissioned in 1780 by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria for a court carnival. He probably chose the subject, though it might have been Mozart. The work premiered on 29 January 1781 at the Cuvilliés Theatre in Munich, Germany.

Synopsis

The overture, in D major and common time, is in a modified sonata form in which the development is but a very short transition section connecting the exposition with the recapitulation. Other conventional hallmarks of the sonata form are apparent: the exposition modulates from the tonic (D major) to the dominant (A major), while the recapitulation is centred on the tonic. The overture concludes with a coda ending in D major chords. These chords, soft and tentative, turn out not to be a resolution of the overture in the tonic but chords in the dominant of G minor, which is the home key of the scene that immediately follows.

Act 1

Island of Crete, shortly after the Trojan War. Ilia, daughter of the defeated Trojan King Priam, has been taken to Crete after the war. She loves Prince Idamante, son of the Cretan King Idomeneo, but hesitates to acknowledge her love. Idamante frees the Trojan prisoners in a gesture of good will. He tells Ilia, who is rejecting his love, that it is not his fault that their fathers were enemies. Trojans and Cretans together welcome the return of peace, but Electra, daughter of the Greek King Agamemnon, is jealous of Ilia and does not approve of Idamante's clemency toward the enemy prisoners. Arbace, the king's confidant, brings news that Idomeneo has been lost at sea while returning to Crete from Troy. Electra, fearing that Ilia, a Trojan, will soon become Queen of Crete, feels the furies of the underworld rise up in her heart (aria: "Tutte nel cor vi sento, furie del crudo averno" – "I feel you all in my heart, furies of the cruel underworld").

Idomeneo is saved by Neptune (god of the sea) and is washed up on a Cretan beach. There he recalls the vow he made to Neptune: to sacrifice, if he should arrive safely on land, the first living creature he should meet. Idamante approaches him, but because the two have not seen each other for a long time, recognition is difficult. When Idomeneo finally realizes the youth that he must sacrifice for the sake of his vow is his own child, he orders Idamante never to seek him out again. Grief-stricken by his father's rejection, Idamante runs off. Cretan troops disembarking from Idomeneo's ship are met by their wives, and all praise Neptune.

Act 2

At the king's palace, Idomeneo seeks counsel from Arbace, who says another victim could be sacrificed if Idamante were sent into exile. Idomeneo orders his son to escort Electra to her home, Argos. Idomeneo's kind words to Ilia move her to declare that since she has lost everything, he will be her father and Crete her country. As she leaves, Idomeneo realizes that sending Idamante into exile has cost Ilia her happiness as well as his own. Electra welcomes the idea of going to Argos with Idamante.

Overture

At the port of Sidon (a fictional city of Crete), Idomeneo bids his son farewell and urges him to learn the art of ruling while he is away. Before the ship can sail, however, a storm breaks out, and a sea serpent appears. Recognizing it as a messenger from Neptune, the king offers himself as atonement for having violated his vow to the god.

Act 3

In the royal garden, Ilia asks the breezes to carry her love to Idamante, who appears, explaining that he must go to fight the serpent. When he says he would rather die than suffer the torments of his rejected love, Ilia confesses her love. They are surprised by Electra and Idomeneo. When Idamante asks his father why he sends him away, Idomeneo can only reply that the youth must leave. Ilia asks for consolation from Electra, who is preoccupied with revenge. Arbace comes with news that the people, led by the High Priest of Neptune, are clamoring for Idomeneo. The High Priest tells the king of the destruction caused by Neptune's monster, urging Idomeneo to reveal the name of the person whose sacrifice is demanded by the god. When the king confesses that his own son is the victim, the populace is horrified.

Outside the temple, the king and High Priest join Neptune's priests in prayer that the god may be appeased. Arbace brings news that Idamante has killed the monster. As Idomeneo fears new reprisals from Neptune, Idamante enters in sacrificial robes, saying he understands his father's torment and is ready to die. After an agonizing farewell, Idomeneo is about to sacrifice his son when Ilia intervenes, offering her own life instead. The Voice of Neptune is heard. Idomeneo must yield the throne to Ilia and Idamante. Everyone is relieved except Electra, who longs for her own death. Idomeneo presents Idamante and his bride as the new rulers. The people call upon the god of love and marriage to bless the royal pair and bring peace.

Venue Info

Dutch National Opera - Amsterdam
Amstel 3

The Dutch National Opera is the largest theatre production house in the Netherlands. Situated in the heart of Amsterdam, the iconic theatre of Dutch National Opera & Ballet offers a magnificent view of the River Amstel and the famous Magere Brug (Skinny Bridge). The various spaces form an inspiring backdrop for a whole range of special events.

Dutch National Opera & Ballet is a young theatre with a long history. The plans for building a new theatre ran parallel to the plans for a new city hall. The first discussions held by the Amsterdam city council about building a new city hall and opera house go back to 1915. At that time, the plans were specifically for an opera house, since ballet was a relatively unknown art form back then.

Ideas for the site of the new city hall and opera house were continually changing, and the idea that both buildings could form a single complex only emerged much later. Sites considered for the new city hall were initially the Dam, followed by the Frederiksplein, and finally the Waterlooplein.

In 1955, the city council commissioned the firm of architects Berghoef and Vegter to draft a design for a city hall on the Waterlooplein. The draft was approved, but in 1964 the council ended the association with the architects, as the final design was nothing like the original plans they had been shown. In 1967, a competition was held for a new design, with the Viennese architect Wilhelm Holzbauer emerging as the winner. Amsterdam's financial problems, however, meant that the plans for the new city hall were put on hold for several years.

DNO has its own choir of sixty singers and technical staff of 260. DNO historically has not had its own resident orchestra, and so various orchestras of the Netherlands, including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra (NPO), the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra (NKO), the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and the Asko/Schönberg ensemble have provided the orchestral forces for DNO productions.

DNO produces on average eleven productions per year. While most performances are in the Dutch National Opera & Ballet building, the company has also performed in the Stadsschouwburg, at the Carré Theatre, and on the Westergasfabriek industrial site in Amsterdam. For many years, the June production has been organized as part of the Holland Festival and includes the participation of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. DNO has lent its productions to foreign companies, such as the Metropolitan Opera, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, as well as the Adelaide Festival in Australia.

Since 1988, the French-Lebanese theatre director Pierre Audi has been the artistic director of DNO. Audi is scheduled to conclude his DNO tenure in 2018. In April 2017, DNO announced the appointment of Sophie de Lint as the company's next artistic director, effective 1 September 2018.

Hartmut Haenchen was chief conductor from 1986 to 1999, in parallel with holding the title of chief conductor of the NPO. He subsequently held the title of principal guest conductor with DNO. Subsequent chief conductors have been Edo de Waart (1999-2004) and Ingo Metzmacher (2005-2008). In March 2009, DNO announced the appointment of Marc Albrecht as the orchestra's next chief conductor, with the 2011-2012 season, for an initial contract of four years. This return to a single chief conductor at both DNO and the NPO/NKO allows for the NPO to become the principal opera orchestra for DNO. Albrecht is scheduled to stand down as chief conductor of DNO at the end of the 2019-2020 season.