Luigi Cherubini

Medea

Oct 30 – Nov 21

Tickets from $33.00 |

Price includes $10.00 fee

Cherubini’s rarely performed take on classic Greek tragedy stars leading diva Sonya Yoncheva as the ultimate woman scorned, the sorceress whose betrayal drives her to an unthinkable act of revenge. Clarion tenor Michael Spyres is Giasone, Medea’s unfaithful Argonaut husband, in David McVicar’s “impressive and enjoyable” (The New York Times) setting of the timeless myth.

A co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, Greek National Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Lyric Opera of Chicago

Production a gift of Daisy M. Soros and the Rosalie J. Coe Weir Endowment Fund

Additional funding from The Jaharis Family Foundation, The H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D. and Oscar Tang Endowment Fund, and Barbara Tober, in memory of Donald Tober

Revival supported by Rolex

Sung In

Italian

Met Titles In

  • English
  • German
  • Spanish

Estimated Run Time

2 hrs 50 mins

House Opens

Acts I & II

105 mins

Intermission

30 mins

Act III

35 mins

Opera Ends

Cast

Carlo Rizzi

Conductor

Carlo Rizzi

Performing

All Dates
Sonya Yoncheva

Medea

Sonya Yoncheva

Performing

Oct 30

Nov 4, 7, 10, 13, 19
Chiara Isotton

Medea

Chiara Isotton

Performing

Nov 21
Elena Villalón

Glauce

Elena Villalón

Performing

All Dates
Victoria Karkacheva

Neris

Victoria Karkacheva

Performing

All Dates
Michael Spyres

Giasone

Michael Spyres

Performing

All Dates
Alexandros Stavrakakis

Creonte

Alexandros Stavrakakis

Performing

All Dates

World premiere: Théâtre Feydeau, Paris, 1797. A fiery retelling of a seminal Greek myth, Medea is as compelling as it is disturbing, never more so than when the title character enacts her revenge on her unfaithful lover by taking the lives of their two children. Cherubini composed the opera at the tail end of the French Revolution, and as such, it fills a musical and dramatic gap between the noble gravitas of 18th-century theater and the more visceral beauty of later Romantic operas.

Creators

Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) was an Italian-born composer who lived most of his adult life in Paris. He skillfully navigated the radically changing tastes in music and politics in those years and in his day, was greatly admired by Haydn, Beethoven, Rossini, and Chopin. François-Benoît Hoffman (1760–1828), a playwright who later gained fame as a journalist covering topics ranging from music to medicine, provided the opera’s original French libretto. Bolognese poet, librettist, and early film director Carlo Zangarini (1874–1943) provided the Italian translation.

  • composer

    Luigi Cherubini

Production

David McVicar

SET DESIGNER

David McVicar

COSTUME DESIGNER

Doey Lüthi

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Paule Constable

Projection Designer

S. Katy Tucker

Movement Director

Jo Meredith

C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director

Tilman Michael

Setting

The opera is set in the Greek city of Corinth, a wealthy and sophisticated locale already ancient by the time of the events in the opera. Medea herself is a foreigner from Colchis, a land thought by Greeks to be wealthy but primitive and which was associated with overly empowered women.

Music

Beyond its obvious dramatic power, the score of Medea shows Cherubini’s abilities in vocal, choral, and instrumental writing. The overture demonstrates the orchestral mastery that was so admired by Beethoven, and the vocal writing is magnificent for the entire cast in both ensembles and solos. It is the lead role, of course, that reigns supreme—from her confrontation aria with Giasone in Act I and their duet at the end of that act to her poignant moment of pity for her children in Act III and her final scene of unalloyed fury.

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