Monday 27 March 2023, 7.30pm
Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Véronique Gens Médée
Cyrille Dubois Jason
Judith van Wanroij Créuse
Thomas Dolié Créon
David Witczak Oronte
Hélène Carpentier La Victoire / Nérine / l’Amour
Chloé Briot La Gloire / Une Italienne / Cléone
Adrien Fournaison Le Chef du peuple / Un habitant / Un Argien / La Vengeance
Floriane Hasler Bellone
David Tricou Un berger / Le premier Corinthien / Un Argien / Le troisième captif / Un démon / Le troisième fantôme
Fabien Hyon Un berger / Arcas / Le deuxième Corinthien / La Jalousie
Jehanne Amzal La première bergère / La première captive / Le premier fantôme
Marine Lafdal-Franc La deuxième bergère / La deuxième captive / Le deuxième fantôme
Hervé Niquet music director
Le Concert Spirituel Choir & Orchestra
Opera sung in French, surtitled in French and English
Coproduction Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Le Concert Spirituel, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Score produced and published by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles
The ensemble Le Concert Spirituel is in residence at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées as part of the CmbV's "cross-residency" scheme
This production is made possible by the generous support of Aline Foriel-Destezet.
After so many years of being prevented by Lully's operatic privilege from performing anything other than pastorals and religious music, Charpentier finally reached the opera stage at the age of 50. He had already won over the public with his Malade imaginaire, a comedy-ballet produced with Molière twenty years earlier. Médée was Charpentier's "great work", the culmination of all his work on the voice, an exceptional example of orchestral richness, a drama magnificently brought to life thanks to Thomas Corneille's libretto, the tragic and devouring destiny of Médée: a masterpiece! However, the reception given to this Medée by the Parisians was not up to the work's standard, not fashionable enough... and Charpentier definitively gave up confronting the cabals that were already making the Opera the scene of all the plots! Médée thus remained Charpentier's only lyrical tragedy, and still leaves us regretting all those he could have written if fate, politics and Lully had decided otherwise (Sources: Centre de musique baroque de Versailles).
