Met Opera Encore in HD: Mozart’s Idomeneo

Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece returns to the Met in the classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production, conducted by Music Director Emeritus James Levine. The superb ensemble includes Matthew Polenzani as the king torn by a rash vow; mezzo-soprano Alice Coote in the trouser role of his noble son Idamante; soprano Nadine Sierra as Ilia; and soprano Elza van den Heever as the volatile Elettra, who loves Idamante to the bounds of madness.
When King Idomeneo is lost at sea in the aftermath of the Trojan war, he makes an impassioned plea to Neptune to save him, and in return he promises to sacrifice the first living soul he sees on his rescue. But it’s an opera, and that means the first person he sees is his son Idamante. Torn between paternal love and responsibility to the vengeful god, he seeks to find a way out of his bargain…with predictably disatrious results!