Idomeneo
San Francisco Opera Brings Out the Best of Mozart's Earliest Major Opera
By: Victor Cordell - Jun 16, 2025
A prodigy in his youth and prodigious in the whole of his too brief life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of opera’s greatest composers. His five warhorses are known by most opera buffs by a single word – the Italian language compositions Giovanni, Figaro, and Cosi, and the German language Flute and Seraglio. Perhaps next in esteem, and in some ways more important than the rest, is Idomeneo.
San Francisco Opera offers only its fifth ever production of Idomeneo. Contrast that with its other summer offering La Bohème, which has appeared in 46 of the company’s seasons! Idomeneo’s stellar cast and Mozart’s immortal music make for a worthy opera experience.
In 1781, Mozart is all of 24 years of age. His new composition, Idomeneo would become Mozart’s earliest opera to rise to the opera repertory. Its significance lies in its adoption of new principles. Strongly influenced by Gluck and contemporary French composers with a foundation in Italian traditions, this opera holds a major position in the reform movement. It embraces arias, ensembles, and ballet (though not in this production) along with more realistic emotional depictions than previous operas.
The title character is a minor player in classic Greek plays. Librettist Giovanni Battista Varesco introduces Enlightenment sensibilities to his story and injects the volatile Elettra (better known in English as Electra) with a vital role. The crux of the plot concerns the ancient tradition in which leaders are asked to make sacrifices to placate the Gods, thus demonstrating their fealty to a higher power, just as leaders expect from their subjects. To survive a storm at sea, Idomeneo, King of Crete, promises Neptune that upon reaching safety, he will sacrifice the first person he sees. Tragically for him, that person is his son Idamante.
Mellifluous tenor Matthew Polenzani brings the conflicted Idomeneo to life with a wide range of emotions and his usual exemplary singing. His apotheosis is perhaps the finest aria from the opera, “Fuor del mar” (“Saved from the sea”) in which Idomeneo questions why he was saved only to sacrifice his son. Polenzani handles (or creates?) the liberal ornamentation in this soliloquy with consummate skill. He then revisits the king’s anguish in the final act.
Females voice the other three leads. Mezzo Daniela Mack reprises her role as Idamante from the SF Opera 2008 production. Though a male character, the part is written to be voiced by any gender. A trousers role for Mack, her vocal timbre simulates a countertenor to give greater credibility to a female singing it.
While giving an exemplary singing performance, Mack took ill at opening, as announced by General Manager Matthew Shilvock before Act 3, begging the audience’s indulgence. Mack soldiered on, and if there was any sacrifice in her volume, there was none in her vocal quality or performance. Oddly, this was a dolorous period for Idamante, so perhaps the illness didn’t hurt Mack’s characterization.
Two dramatic soprano roles complete the top of the bill, and what a pair. The larger role is Ilia, daughter of King Priam of Troy, who has been defeated by Greek forces led by King Idomeneo. Captured by the Greeks, Ilia falls in love with Idamante. Ying Fang plays the role which opens with a searing aria. She maintains lovely tonal and lyrical quality even throughout the dramatic elements.
Like Mack, Elza van den Heever is a Merola and Adler Fellow graduate, loved as a part of the greater SF Opera community. She is Elettra, and she tears through the role with the power of a lioness with strong and accurate vocalizations. Near the climax, she finds her aspirations crumbling, and her mad scene is an emotive tour-de-force of sound and sight.
This production should definitely be seen, yet the score has issues. While the music is Mozart, it lacks arias that would appear on popularity lists. However, a trio and a remarkable duet that morphs into a quartet, with each principal bemoaning a life that is worse than anyone elses, are both thrilling pieces. The other matter is that particularly the first half of the 3 ½ hour run time is dominated by stand and deliver singing with relatively little interaction. Thankfully, the latter part redeems the earlier.
Further, while the cast is blessed with top international performers who show why they are on top, production decisions won’t be to everyone’s liking. The fixed hardware of the angular set is comprised of white walls with doors for egress. Australian Stage Director Lindy Hume’s concept is to project scenes and distortions of nature against this backdrop, particularly crashing seas and billowing leaves of trees from Tasmania. This ties in thematically with the Enlightenment period’s growing interest in nature and situates the action in Australia where the production was initiated. Some will find this approach less satisfactory than a conventional staging, and it may seem to be in response to budget limitations. Disclosures – I have no idea if a run of projections like this actually costs less than full staging, and the projections look much more vivid and attractive in photos than they did from my seat.
Similarly, darkly-hued contemporary costumery is often worn, and with the chorus on stage, it creates a bit of a pall, which, granted, is consistent with the storyline. The chosen outfits were probably another reflection of the director’s dark vision of the narrative and perhaps another attempt to put a more modern stamp on the production.
Idomeneo, composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Giovanni Battista Varesco based on Antoine Danchet’s opera libretto Idomenée is produced by San Francisco Opera and plays at War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA through June 25, 2025.