“Medea” in the Polish National Opera
The much-anticipated premiere of Luigi Cherubini’s “Medea” finally took place in the Polish National Opera in Warsaw on January 21. The performance is a co-production between the Polish National Opera and Salzburg Festival, during which it had its premiere in 2019. Due to the pandemic, “Medea” couldn’t be presented to the Polish audience in 2020 and only now becomes available with following performances on 24th, 26th and 28th of January. Based on Euripides’ tragedy and Pierre Corneille’s drama, the opera in 3 acts is a mythological story modernized and translated into nowadays emotional complexity of relationships. Medea, a betrayed wife of a rich and influential Jason, is pushed into the abyss of despair, desperation and in the end – cruelty, infanticide and suicide. Cherubini’s musical narration is inspired by the compositions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the romantic passion of Christoph Willibald Gluck, where the initial sublimity evolves into the extreme emotions in the end. “Medea” directed by Simon Stone is performed under the baton of Patrick Fournillier with the title role sung by Izabela Matuła.
