Mozart´s Idomeneo Exposing Human Emotions in Conflict

OperaPlus, Helena Havlíková, March 12, 2019

Idamante, whose part was originally written for a castrato, was in the interpretation of mezzo-soprano Barbora  de Nunes-Cambraia a sensitive youth who may try to do his best while setting free the captive Troyans, to act as the successor to the Cretan throne should – and yet, even this his first move as a ruler is motivated by love, and he goes on to wander through the opera´s progress as a man tormented by unrequited love, repudiation by his father, and the obligation to leave with his contract bride. In the aria Il padre adorato, Polášková blended the moods of joy felt by the son learning his father did not perish in storm as was initially announced, with his simultaneous confusion as instead of greeting him his father, outraged and terrified, banishes him. In the finale, with Electra drowning in her wrath, he triumphantly takes over the rule of Crete, with Illia at his side.