Cherubini – Medea
Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, July 8 2005 Conductor: Evelino Pido. Production, sets, costumes: Yannis Kokkos. Medea: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Gioasone: Giuseppe Gipali. Gluace: Annamaria dell’Oste. Creonte: Giorgio Giuseppini. Neris: Sara Mingardo. Two servants: Elena Poesina, Blandine Staskiewicz. Captain of the guard: Frédéric Caton. Orchestra and Chorus of the Capitole de Toulouse. The applause at the end of this Medea was louder and longer than usual in Paris, where the house lights tend to go up quickly in a stark message to patrons to buzz off. The loudest clapping and cheering and stamping of all was for Anna-Caterina Antonacci, and anyone who’s seen her as Cassandra in the Châtelet DVD of Les Troyens will have no trouble imagining her as Medea. Her voice is not beautiful, but the rough edge, the permanent hint of strain and of definite risk at the top, combined with the fact that she’s willing to throw herself into the part and take that risk, add to her considerable ski...