The
new production of Idomeneo at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden,
originally scheduled to have its première in March of 2020, was one of the earliest
casualties of the pandemic-related theatre closure that brought the 2019/20
season to a sudden halt. It would be another three years before the opera
finally reached the stage, but the wait was very much worth it. Although Sir
David McVicar’s staging provided the evening with a concentrated vision of the
drama, and Sir Simon Rattle’s musical direction was unfailingly genial, the
production succeeded primarily on the strength of the principal singers, whose
delight in the music remained palpable throughout the evening.
Without
succumbing to traditionalism, Sir David McVicar’s staging had a flavour of the
old school. There was no clever concept and no attempts to recontextualise the
action by…
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