After his disastrous trip to Mannheim and Paris, Mozart, forced by his uncompromising father Leopold to return to Salzburg to resume his activities with the archbishop, is desperate. During the trip, he has achieved nothing professionally, he has lost his mother in Paris and has suffered the most cruel breakup in love of his life by Aloysia Weber. When Mozart was commissioned to write a new opera seria for Munich for the carnival of 1781, the theme and libretto imposed on him bore many similarities to his own situation. The legend of Idomenee, her son Idamante and his love affairs inspired him to write an opera deeply invested, with an exceptional vocal quality and a very high level of orchestral writing. By taking great liberties with the ageing genre of the opera seria, Mozart masterfully learns from Gluck’s reformation, which tended towards more tension and truth in the course of the action.

The composer knew Munich well and this commission was an opportunity not only to settle accounts with those who had made him suffer, but also to distance himself from the archbishop who would soon congeal him, opening the way to a brand-new life in Vienna…

Ian will sing the title role.