Royal Theater premieres Medea, opera Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) inspired by Greek myth, and the opera season begins with the presence of kings in the box and the shadow of the threat of a three-day strike called Main choir of the Teatro Real on September 22, 23 and 25.

The production pays special attention to children Medea that she kills herself to take revenge Jason, her husband. Stage director Paco Azorin offers a modern interpretation of Euripides’ tragedy about the horror that awaits the children of Medea and Jason. “In this myth there is abuse of children who were the great forgotten ones, not only by the mother, but also by Jason. Society projects onto them what we are, our emotional garbage, and that is how we create monsters. “, Azorin reflects.

“This is a case of indirect violence, but it is more than that,” continues Asorin, “because from a feminist point of view it is the story of a woman who chooses to be a woman and not a mother. It feels like an excuse.” “bad mothers” For the director of Medea, patriarchy had a limited reading of myth. “Medea is much more than a story of a mother who kills her children to harm her partner,” he says.

A new version

From September 19 to October 4, 11 performances are planned. Medea it is a co-production between Teatro Real and the Abu Dhabi Festival, featuring an unpublished recitative score written by a musicologist and director. Alan Curtis (1934–2015)based on the original texts of the opera, emulating the style of Luigi Cherubini.

Project by Luigi Cherubini and his librettist Francois-Benoit Hoffmann (1760-1828) was rejected by the Paris Opera. In the conditions of revolutionary France, where evasiveness prevailed in comedies, a drama like the one they represented did not fit in. It premiered in 1797 at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris, and has since produced ten versions with varying success. The most successful was the one Franz Paul Lachner in the 19th century in German. It was this version, translated into Italian, that triumphed in the twentieth century, especially in interpretations Maria Callas. Medea’s performances in Madrid are dedicated specifically to the diva.

The version that can be seen today at Real is performed entirely as Cherubini wanted, thanks to the work of a musicologist. Alan Curtis (1934–2015) that he was never able to see his contribution to Medea performed on stage. “It’s important that the publisher has the courage to take this masterful score and do an appropriate critical reading that respects the style of the author, who didn’t necessarily have to sound like Donizetti, and that’s what Curtis does,” says Curtis. Joanne Mataboshartistic director Real.

Plensa in Cute present

Since the premiere this Tuesday Medea, presided over by the Kings of Spain, before the performances you can see an installation created in collaboration with plastic artist Jaume Plensa, who opened a “window” in the dome of its Main Hall thanks to a video projection reproducing the sky. Work with this title Cutecan also be seen during intermissions.