The 2023-2024 opera season at the Carlo Felice Opera continues with the fifth title on the programme: Idomeneo, a drama in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with a libretto by Gianbattista Varesco, first performed in Genova, will be performed on Friday 16th February at 20.00 (round A). Riccardo Minasi, the theatre’s musical director, returns to the podium, with direction by Matthias Hartmann, sets by Volker Hintermeier, costumes by Malte Lübben, choreography by Reginaldo Oliveira and lighting by Mathias Märker and Valerio Tiberi. Staged by the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice. Orchestra, chorus and technicians of the Opera Carlo Felice. Conductor Claudio Marino Moretti. Cello Antonio Fantinuoli, harpsichord Sirio Restani. Ballet Fondazione Formazione Danza e Spettacolo “For Dance” ETS.

Idomeneo will be repeated on Sunday 18 February at 3 p.m. (C pause), Friday 23 February at 8 p.m. (B pause) and Sunday 25 February at 3 p.m. (F pause) (conductor Simone Ori).

The protagonists of the opera are Antonio Poli (Idomeneo), Cecilia Molinari (Idamante), Benedetta Torre (Ilia), Lenneke Ruiten (Elettra), Giorgio Misseri (Arbace), Blagoj Nacoski (Gran Sacerdote), Ugo Guagliardo (Neptune’s voice), Lucia Nicotra / Maria Letizia Poltini (Two Cretans), Damiano Profumo / Franco Rios Castro (Two Trojans).

“The appointment with Idomeneo, in its world premiere in Genova”, says the Superintendent, “follows the enormous success of the recent production of Madama Butterfly, which was seen by 12,000 people over six performances. There are great expectations for Mozart’s masterpiece, directed by Riccardo Minasi, who will lead a splendid chorus, with a production of great visual power by director Matthias Hartmann. At the same time as Idomeneo, the Royal Opera House in Muscat, Oman, is busy with two performances of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (9 and 10 February), following the great success of the production that opened the opera season last October. This international profile dovetails perfectly with the other important project of “Liguria Musica”, through which more than fifty concerts of the Theatre will be spread throughout the region”.

Idomeneo is an opera in three acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart between 1780 and 1781 at the request of Prince Karl Theodor of Bavaria. The libretto was entrusted to Abbot Gianbattista Varesco, chaplain to the Archbishop of Salzburg, who was inspired by Antoine Danchet’s tragédie-lyrique Idoménée, set to music by André Campra in 1712. The opera was a success from its premiere in Munich in January 1781: it was the great consecration of the then 25-year-old Mozart in the field of opera seria. The libretto tells the story of Idomeneo, King of Crete, returning home after the fall of Troy, and his son Idamante. The main themes are deeply rooted in Greek literature and mythology: the complicated relationship between father and son, love thwarted by political circumstances, and the relationship between man and the gods. Mozart’s main source of inspiration was Italian opera seria, from which he borrowed the structure of alternating arias and recitatives.

Despite his fidelity to the model, the composer introduced several orchestral and choral moments, with a preference for the accompanied recitative, breaking away from the metastasian approach and creating some of the most intense pages in the history of opera seria. Another important aspect is the portrayal of the individual characters, which is characterised by an unprecedented psychological realism. Vocalisation, for which Mozart uses a variety of styles, becomes a central element of dramatic expression, accentuating the more subtle facets of the protagonists. The rich complexity of the opera opens up many possibilities for interpretation.

Dramatically, the action unfolds at a fast pace, and the presence of the chorus and corps de ballet, in addition to the principals, is very important, as they also take on symbolic significance in this production. Matthias Hartmann’s production draws on the Sturm und Drang – almost pre-Romantic – elements of the opera. Scenery, costumes, choreography and lighting of enormous visual impact create a dense setting in which the supernatural and divine elements of the narrative come fully to the fore. A shipwreck and a bull’s head – an important reference to the figure of the Minotaur and the rituals of the Minoan civilisation – dominate the centre of the single stage.

Biographies

Riccardo Minasi has rapidly established himself as one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the European scene in recent years. In addition to his position as Principal Conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, his recent and forthcoming symphonic debuts include some of the most prestigious Italian and international theatres and concert halls. In January 2022 he will be appointed First Artistic Director of La Scintilla at the Zurich Opera. He regularly collaborates with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Ensemble Resonanz and La Scintilla. He has recently conducted opera productions for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Zurich Opera, the Hamburg State Opera and made his debut at the Dutch National Opera and the Opéra National de Lyon. Riccardo Minasi has extensive recording experience with the world’s finest artists and has appeared on four Echo Klassik Award winning albums. His recordings of Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross and C. P. E. Bach’s Cello Concertos received the Diapason d’Or de l’Année. He has served as historical advisor to the Montréal Symphony Orchestra and, with Maurizio Biondi, as editor and publisher of Bärenreiter’s 2016 critical edition of Norma. As a soloist and first violinist, he has performed with several major orchestras and soloists. Since 2022 he is Music Director of the Opera Carlo Felice Genova.

He made his debut at La Scala in 2017, directing Der Freischütz. His recent projects include the multimedia production of Schiller’s Die Räuber at the Salzburg Landestheater, broadcast live on television, Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and David Bowie and Enda Walsh’s musical Lazarus (2018) at the Schauspielhaus in Düsseldorf. As CEO of THE NET, he produces international television series. Recent engagements include Idomeneo and The Queen of Spades at La Scala and Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos and Carmen in Florence.

Matthias Hartmann, born in Osnabrück, Germany, has worked as a director at the most important opera and theatre houses in the German-speaking world. In 1990 he was appointed artistic director of the Staatstheater in Hanover, from 1993 to 1999 of the Residenztheater in Munich, and later of the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and the Burgtheater in Vienna. From 2000 to 2005 he was director of the Schauspielhaus in Bochum, where he staged works by Botho Strauss and Peter Turrini, Beckett’s En attendant Godot and Christian Kracht’s 1979. From 2005 to 2009 he was artistic director of the Schauspielhaus Zürich, where he directed Čechov’s Ivanov, Jon Fosse’s Je suis le vent and Emmanuel Kant: cómedie by Thomas Bernhard. From 2009 to 2014 he was director of the Burgtheater in Vienna, where he staged War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Nestroy Prize 2010), Faust by Goethe, Ombra by Elfriede Jelinek and The Last Witnesses by Doron Rabinovici. Since 2003, he has also been active as an opera director, staging Elektra at the Opéra de Paris, Carmen in Zurich, Šostakovič’s Lady Macbeth of the Mzensk District for the Vienna State Opera, Smetana’s The Sold Bride, Eugen by Albert Tiefland, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler in Zurich, Fidelio, La bohéme and Boris Godunov for the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He made his debut at La Scala in 2017 with the production of Der Freischütz. His recent projects include the multimedia production of Schiller’s Die Räuber at the Salzburg Landestheater, broadcast live on television, Kleist’s Michael Kohlhaas and David Bowie and Enda Walsh’s musical Lazarus (2018) at the Schauspielhaus in Düsseldorf. As CEO of THE NET, he produces international television series. Recent engagements include Idomeneo and The Queen of Spadres at La Scala; Fidelio, Ariadne auf Naxos and Carmen in Florence.

Ticket prices

Sector I: from 70 to 100.00 euros
Sector II: from 55 to 80.00 euro
Sector III: from 45 to 60.00 euro
Sector IV: from 40 to 50.00 euro
Sector V: from 30 to 35.00 euro
Under 30*: 25.00 euro
Under 18*: 15.00 euro

*All sectors

For further information: www.operacarlofelicegenova.it