It has been a great pleasure for me to return to Mozart’s Idomeneo after a decade long hiatus from this remarkable work. Of all Mozart’s operas—I find Idomeneo to be the most satisfying.

What other composer could so successfully have juxtaposed the formality of the opera seria template with such heightened and extreme emotion? The Apollonian world of 18th-century Europe clashes head on with the earliest stirrings of Romanticism making Idomeneo a particular thrill and a particular challenge for all artists participating in this production.

I have been fortunate to be able to cast this production with many of the artists who have, over the years, been pivotal in establishing Opera Atelier’s ever-evolving house style. I find it particularly moving that artists such as Meghan Lindsay and Wallis Giunta sang in the chorus of our production 10 years ago, and have now returned from busy international careers to take on the leading roles ofIlia and Idamante respectively. The title role is a dream role for tenor Colin Ainsworth, who remains my dream tenor — and what can one say of the remarkable soprano Measha Brueggergosman? She remains the most generous of colleagues and a force of nature. All of our soloists coupled with the work of choreographerJeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, designers Gerard Gauci, Michael Gianfrancesco and Michelle Ramsay, conductor David Fallis, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Artists of Atelier Ballet have created the most invigorating and productive rehearsal atmosphere, for which I will be forever grateful.

Marshall Pynkoski

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