ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Niccolò Jommelli (1714–1774) is considered one of the founders of the classical style, and an early precursor of Haydn and Mozart. Early on, Jommelli, trained in Naples, made a name for himself as an opera composer, was recommended by Johann Adolph Hasse as a conductor in Venice and finally moved to Rome. During a sojourn in Vienna, he met Pietro Metastasio. Jommelli spent his most important years as maestro di cappella at the court of Württemberg in Stuttgart.
Riccardo Muti presents the Opera seria Demofoonte in the version first performed in Naples in 1770, a setting of a libretto by Pietro Metastasio which is one of the most frequently set libretti of all times and describes the family conflicts surrounding King Demofoonte of Thrace.