Opera in concert version conducted by René Jacobs.

"To those who seek
Even if they don't find
To those who reach
Even if they get lost
To those who live even if they die."

Mario Benedetti

After presenting in Barcelona the Da Ponte Trilogy and The Magic Flute, the time has now come for another masterpiece by the composer, Idomeneo.

Premiered in Munich in 1781, based on the same libretto used by André Campra in his Idoménée, tragédie lyrique of 1712, Mozart wrote it when, at the age of twenty-five, he was composing his third "opera seria," following Lucio Silla and Il Re pastore.

With precocious dramatic talent, Mozart assimilates from Haydn a revolutionary style, drawing lessons about the comic-dramatic nature and adapting it to his own language, becoming an absolute modernization of the genre. Thus, Idomeneo, an extraordinary score, represents an important challenge for the composer in fusing a new hybrid model (the flexibility of French tragedy with the lyricism of Italian opera).

The protagonists of the plot are the children of the heroes of the Iliad, the Greek epic that tells the story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans, which ended with the destruction of Troy. Thus, Idamante carries great dramatic weight, Ilia has a softer character, Electra is expressive in her archetypal madness, while Idomeneo, in his nobility, will serenely renounce his throne to announce peace, as Neptune grants forgiveness, a concept much appreciated by the Enlightenment. Jacobs, who always emphasizes the choice of voices, achieves a hypnotic, charming, and surprising bouquet to explore all the nuances of characters who are vulnerable in their intimacy.

The Belgian maestro, leading the Freiburg Barockorchester, will offer us the most profound, reflective, and human interpretation ever heard, where he will energetically and imaginatively narrate the story of a king's promise to Neptune to sacrifice the first person he sees if he safely reaches home; in reality, it questions the entire concept of religion: “Love is worth more than a promise made in fear,” Jacobs comments. While in his time this Idomeneo was criticized as the last metamorphosis of an obsolete genre, Mozart bequeathed us a work of true creative fury.

René Jacobs, a true specialist in this repertoire, brings back the necessary vigor to interpret this enlightening score.