Salzburg, Austria: Mozart’s “Idomeneo” offers important lessons about letting the young take over after their parents have wreaked havoc with the earth, US director Peter Sellars said on Saturday at the Salzburg Festival, ahead of the premiere of the 18th-century opera.
Sellar’s production is the first opera performance of this year’s festival, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year in Mozart’s birth town.
In “Idomeneo,” which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed at the age of 24, “the humans are always blaming the gods, blaming the stars, and claiming that nature is cruel instead of getting the message,” Sellars said in the festival’s keynote speech.
The opera tells the ancient story of king Idomeneo, who makes a pact with the god of the sea and ends up being obliged to sacrifice his own son.
Not only young people, but also artists must become key players in the effort to protect our climate and our oceans, Sellars demanded.
“There comes a time when we need new stories and when it is no longer acceptable to repeat the appalling cycle of human failure,” he told the audience at the festival that draws government and business leaders from around the world each year.
“It is now time to welcome a new generation of creators, activists, repairers, restorers, and healers,” he added. The evening’s premiere
has been highly anticipated, as it marks Sellars’ second collaboration with unconventional Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis at the festival, following their staging of Mozart’s “La clemenza di Tito” two years ago. — dpa
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