Roman Kocherzhevsky Directs 'Idomeneo' at the Mariinsky Theatre
The first premiere of 2026 on the New Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart«s opera »Idomeneo, King of Crete.« Director Roman Kocherzhevsky, known for his work in drama theatre, has filled the production with multimedia effects. Valery Gergiev will conduct the premiere performance on 30 January. Additional performances will take place on 2 and 28 February at 13:00 and 19:00. The age restriction is 12+.
The production is timed to the 270th anniversary of Mozart«s birth and the 245th anniversary of the work»s world premiere. In Russia, the opera was first performed in St. Petersburg in 1820.
The libretto is based on the ancient myth of the Cretan king Idomeneus, who nearly sacrificed his only son to the god Poseidon. The work is written in the genre of opera seria, where the plot unfolds through recitatives, and emotions are expressed in virtuosic arias and ensembles.
The performance is aimed at a wide audience. The settings—a square, a pier, a cliff, and a temple—are recreated using large screens. The production includes an homage to the classic version by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, and viewers are offered «cheat sheets» to familiarize themselves with the ancient world.
«Idomeneo» has been staged at the Mariinsky Theatre before. In the 2008-2009 season, a modern interpretation was presented by Austrian director Michael Sturminger, and since 2022, the opera has been regularly performed in the Concert Hall in a semi-staged format.
The opera is performed in Italian with Russian subtitles.
