Credit: EBU
For cast lists and playlists, please visit the Opera Series Overview.
Hercules Hall in Munich is the location of a stunning performance of Mozart’s Idomeneo with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Andrew Staples in the demanding title role, Sabine Devieilhe and Magdalena Kožená as the touching passionate lovers Ilia and Idamante, and Elsa Dreisig as the jealous, desperate Elettra.
“I have an indescribable desire to write an opera once again,” Mozart’s wish, expressed in 1777, was finally fulfilled in the fall of 1780 when he received a commission from Munich to write a grand opera for the upcoming carnival season. The excellence of the Munich orchestra, and the subject matter involving the conflict between divine law and human passion, between duty and love, inspired Mozart to write one of his most elaborate and innovative stage works. Idomeneo has long been one of conductor Simon Rattle’s favorite pieces. Mozart’s first operatic masterpiece gives Rattle the opportunity to work intensively with the chorus and to further deepen his involvement with historical performance practice in Munich.
Summary courtesy of Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
About the Host:
Lisa Flynn has been a program host and producer for WFMT since 1991. She presents The New Releases and has hosted many programs for the WFMT Radio Network, including War Letters (which won the 2002 Peter Lisagor Award) and a series of live broadcasts from Salzburg to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday in 2006. As WFMT’s midday weekday announcer, Lisa hosts live studio performances and interviews guest artists including Renée Fleming, John Adams, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, John Eliot Gardiner, and many others. Before coming to Chicago, Lisa presented classical music at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and at WMFE and WUCF in Orlando, Florida. She holds a music degree from the University of Central Florida.
This program is a part of the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series, a series designed to complement the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to fill out the year with great Opera content. The series begins in June and lasts until December.
