Medea

In the organizer's words:

Ballet by Michal Sedláček
Music by Samuel Barber, Apocalyptica & Les Tambours du Bronx
Premiere: 14.03.2026

Medea is one of the most elusive figures in literary history. More than almost any other female figure, she leaves an unprecedented trail of blood in her wake: betrayal of her father, murder of her brother, murder of the king of Iolkos - and that's not all. Seeking protection, she flees with her family to the royal court of Corinth. Medea, whose sense of justice, intellectuality, rhetorical power and combative determination make her superior to those around her, is cast out there as a stranger and increasingly humiliated. In the end, she goes to extremes to harm her opponents and take revenge for her lover's betrayal: She kills her own children and destroys the ruling house of Corinth.

It is due to the complexity and ambivalence of the character of Medea that her actions and motives defy simple explanations. She is not a victim or a perpetrator, but both at the same time. Euripides, the youngest and most modern of the three great tragedian poets of Greek antiquity, liberated his main character from mythological distance and revealed the disturbingly human in Medea.

Ballet director Michal Sedláček presents his version of the myth, in which Medea the human being takes center stage. The fascinating soundscapes of Samuel Barber and the cello quartet "Apocalyptica" form the musical foundation of this ballet version of the still modern classic.