| Friday 15 May 2026 | 20:00 |
| Bell, Iain | Medusa (world premiere, commissioned by La Monnaie) | Libretto by Lydia Steier |
| La Monnaie | De Munt | ||
| Michiel Delanghe | Conductor | |
| Lydia Steier | Director | |
| Flurin Borg Madsen | Set Designer | |
| Katharina Schlipf | Costume Designer | |
| Elana Siberski | Lighting Designer | |
| La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra | ||
| La Monnaie Chorus | ||
| Mareike Wink | Dramaturgy | |
| Tabatha McFadyen | Assistant Choreographer and Director | |
| Emmanuel Trenque | Choirmaster / chorus director | |
| Claudia Boyle | Soprano | Medusa |
| Paula Murrihy | Mezzo-soprano | Euryale |
| Angela Denoke | Soprano | Stheno |
| Josh Lovell | Tenor | Perseus |
| Konstantin Gorny | Bass | Poseidon |
| Anu Komsi | Soprano | High Priestess |
| Mary Elizabeth Williams | Soprano | Athena |
| Marie-Juliette Ghazarian | Mezzo-soprano | Danaë |
Poseidon demands Medusa’s submission. Hoping to protect her, her sisters send her to live with the priestesses of Athena’s temple. But the god of the sea emerges from the waves and rapes the young woman, defiling the temple. To punish her for this desecration, Athena turns Medusa into a monstrous creature: her hair becomes a nest of snakes and her gaze turns anyone who looks at her to stone. This terrifying power arouses the lust of heroes, who pursue her in her exile…
An iconic figure in Greek mythology, Medusa has inspired artists throughout the centuries, including Da Vinci, Rubens, Caravaggio, Cellini, Rodin and Picasso, among many others. In this new score commissioned by La Monnaie, composer Iain Bell and director and librettist Lydia Steier explore the human dimension of this great myth. Given voice by soprano Claudia Boyle, Medusa is reborn live on OperaVision as a complex and deeply moving woman, alone amid the stone statues of those who, in their thirst for glory, tried to destroy her. Dare to meet her gaze and perhaps you will see who she really is.
