Idomeneo, Re di Creta by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Capture date July 11, 2022
- Languages Sung in Italian with French, English, German, Spanish, Polish and Italian subtitles
- Realisation François-René Martin
- Video available for replay until Monday 15 January 2024
- Photo © Jean-Louis Fernandez
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Arte — a media partner of the Festival — is offering you the chance to (re-)discover the leading productions of recent Festivals. Be sure to watch Strauss' Elektra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and staged by Patrice Chéreau; Mahler’s Resurrection, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and staged by Romeo Castellucci; Mozart’s Idomeneo, Re di Creta, conducted by Raphaël Pichon and staged by Satoshi Miyagi; Rossini’s Moses and Pharaoh, conducted by Michele Mariotti and staged by Tobias Kratzer; and Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence, which received a standing ovation at the 2021 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, conducted by Susanna Mälkki and staged by Simon Stone.
OPERA SERIA IN THREE ACTS
LIBRETTO IN ITALIAN BY GIAMBATTISTA VARESCO
FIRST PERFORMED ON 29 JANUARY 1781 AT THE THÉÂTRE CUVILLIÉS OF MUNICH
NEW PRODUCTION OF THE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
IN COPRODUCTION WITH THE OPÉRA NATIONAL DU CAPITOLE DE TOULOUSE
— WITH THE SUPPORT OF MADAME ALINE FORIEL-DESTEZET, GRANDE DONATRICE D’EXCEPTION DU FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Give me advice, Arbace: for pity's sake save my son for me!
Idomeneo, Re di Creta, Act II, Scene I
In the heat of the storm, Idomeneus, King of Crete, promises Neptune to sacrifice the first human being he should meet: height of tragic fatality, it was to be his own son. Mozart thus parts with a castrating father and ensures the triumph of love. He benefited from exceptional means to compose his first masterpiece – the world’s first orchestra, a tailor-made cast, an extraordinary chorus and ballet – which allowed his endless inspiration to serve the most incredible dramatic and musical experiments. Idomeneo is performed at the Festival d’Aix for only the fourth time and the conditions are ideal: after Requiem (2019), Raphaël Pichon once again brings the Pygmalion Chorus and Orchestra to the Archevêché, thus providing a unique setting for Michael Spyres’ virtuosity and Sabine Devieilhe’s delicacy. Following his recent triumphs at the Festival d’Avignon (Mahabharata, Antigone), Satoshi Miyagi makes his opera debut in Europe and engages a dialogue between Ancient Greece and contemporary Japan.
- IL MANIFESTO
[…] vision bidimensionnelle et rituelle de l'œuvre qui ne pèse pas sur la fluidité du récit : le récit se dissout dans la paix grâce à la voix du dieu, évoquée par la radio d’où les Japonais ont entendu pour la première fois la voix de l'empereur vaincu, dégradé en être humain et contraint à l'abdication.
- ASOPERA.FR
La proposition scénique sobre de Satoshi Miyagi est complémentaire de ce théâtre sonore luxuriant. […] Cette belle sobriété plonge le spectateur dans un univers esthétique et théâtral singulier : du haut des plateformes, les personnages sont des archétypes qui s’adressent aux dieux, et leurs supports se meuvent, manipulés par les soldats morts au combat pour Idoménée.
- ASOPERA.FR
Profondément inspiré par l’histoire et l’art de son pays, Satoshi Miyagi propose un univers esthétique fascinant [...].
- IL MANIFESTO
Raphaël Pichon propose une lecture [...] vivante de la partition de Mozart, avec une définition soignée des différentes âmes de l'opéra [...]. Une lecture d'une forte intensité dramatique, rythmée par des changements de tempo tourbillonnants, des pauses et l'originalité des cadences et des variations des interprètes.