[Language: French with Burnt-in French Subtitles]

Médée is a tragédie mise en musique in five acts and a prologue by Marc-Antoine Charpentier to a French libretto by Thomas Corneille. It was premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on December 4, 1693, in the presence of Louis XIV. Médée is the only opera Charpentier wrote for the Académie Royale de Musique.

Possibly mythology’s most unfathomable character: Medea, the sorceress, betrayed by her husband Jason, takes revenge by offering the latter’s lover a poisoned dress and then killing her own children. Such a destiny, so often portrayed in the arts, could not but be embodied at the Opera.

Three centuries after its creation, this baroque score of great orchestral wealth returns to the Theater in Basel, under the baton of Andrea Marcon.
Renowned for his exceptionally articulate interpretations, director Nicolas Brieger transposes the action to the Second World War, thus reinforcing the heroine’s tragic character.

Direction: Nicolas Brieger (Director), Andrea Marcon (Music Conductor)
Cast: Singers (Magdalena Kozená, Anders J. Dahlin, Luca Tittoto, Meike Hartmann, Robin Adams, Silke Gäng, Yukie Sato, Jenny Högström, Regina Dahlen), Orchestra (La Cetra - Barockorchester Basel), Chorus (Vokalensemble Basel), Stage Designer (Raimund Bauer), Costume Designer (Bettina Walter), Lighting Designer (Alexander Koppelmann)