Cherubini : Médée

Cherubini : Médée

Three years after the creation of Médée, Krzysztof Warlikowski and Christophe Rousset were together again at La Monnaie for the revival of one memorable production whose staging reinforces the violence, tension and cruelty of this tragedy.

Whilst this work by Cherubini is considered part of the ‘opéra-comique’ genre, it is only due to the presence of spoken dialogue, which has been modernised here in the Polish stage director’s interpretation.

Written in 1797, Cherubini’s faithful version of Euripides’ ancient tragedy is one of the most savage and powerful works of the opera repertoire, relating the cruel vengeance of a wounded woman for whom infanticide seems to be the only solution to her humiliation in love. As a continuation of Gluck’s music, Cherubini’s work is of boundless emotion, at once a refined, terrifying and desperate portent of a tragic outcome.

The cast : Nadja Michael as Médée, Kurt Streit as Jason, Christianne Stotijn as Néris Médée’s slave, Vincent Le Texier as King Créon and Hendrickje Van Kerckhove as Dircé Créon’s daughter. Christophe Rousset is conducted Les Talens Lyriques and the Chœurs de la Monnaie.

Cherubini : Médée

Opéra comique in three acts (French original version)

Music : Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842)

Libretto : François-Benoît Hoffman
Adaptation : Krzysztof Warlikowski & Christian Longchamp

Médée : Nadja Michael
Jason : Kurt Streit
Néris : Christianne Stotijn
Créon : Vincent Le Texier
Dircé : Hendrickje Van Kerckhove
Première servante : Gaëlle Arquez
Deuxième servante : Anne-Fleur Inizan
Enfants : Alex Burger, Louis Malotaux 

Chœurs de la Monnaie
Les Talens Lyriques

Conductor : Christophe Rousset

Stage direction : Krzysztof Warlikowski

Costumes : Malgorzata Szczesniak
Lighting design: Felice Ross
Dramaturgy : Christian Longchamp, Miron Hakenbeck
Video : Denis Guéguin
Choreography : Saar Magal
Chorus master : Stephen Betteridge