Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 1 - Medea

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 24 But Callas was not alone. Magda Olivero, famed for her longevity and incandescent theatricality, brought Medea an Italianate warmth that made the character’s anguish almost unbearable in its humanity. Montserrat Caballé, with her seamless legato and gleaming top, reimagined Medea less as a raw tragedienne than as a noble figure undone by betrayal, her purity of tone making her final acts of vengeance all the more chilling. Later interpreters such as Anna Caterina Antonacci and Jennifer Larmore have stressed the role’s dramatic immediacy, balancing declamation with vocal clarity, each finding ways to harness Cherubini’s difficult tessitura for modern audiences. Jason: A Tenor’s Test of Authority If Medea is the opera’s flaming center, Jason can never be merely her shadow. His role, though often underestimated, requires both noble phrasing and heroic projection, along with the ability to reveal weakness and duplicity. The tessitura lies high, demanding brilliance at the top and weight in the middle voice. Dramatically, Jason is no cardboard villain but a flawed hero whose betrayal precipitates catastrophe. Historically, Jason has been most successful when embodied by a tenor of commanding presence. Jon Vickers, opposite Callas, offered a Jason of granite — vocally stentorian, dramatically unyielding. His very severity amplified the inevitability of Medea’s revenge. Mario del Monaco, in Italian productions, brought raw power and a heroic timbre that matched sopranos like Olivero in sheer vocal amplitude. Giuseppe Giacomini, a frequent partner to Caballé, found dignity and lyricism in Jason’s lines, offering a balance between grandeur and pathos. More recently, Roberto Alagna has offered Jason as a man seduced by political advantage, his elegant French style tempering the character’s brutality. Jason, then, is not a passive counterpart. The tenor who sings the role must provide a genuine obstacle to Medea’s domination of the stage. Only when Jason is sung with equal conviction does Cherubini’s tragedy become a true confrontation of wills, rather than a soprano star vehicle. The Alchemy of Partnership Cherubini’s opera rises or falls on the chemistry between its soprano and tenor. Medea is not merely the story of a woman’s descent into vengeance; it is the story of a couple’s collapse, played out with shattering consequences. The most memorable productions have been those in which Medea and Jason are evenly matched — two singers capable of igniting sparks in every confrontation. The Callas–Vickers partnership is often remembered as definitive because it captured this volatile balance: Callas’s sorcery set against Vickers’s uncompromising strength. Olivero and del Monaco embodied verismo intensity, their voices clashing with visceral impact. Caballé and Giacomini, by contrast, found nobility and grandeur, shaping the opera into a more dignified, almost classical tragedy. Each partnership reveals how the opera can be tilted toward psychological realism, verismo fire, or neoclassical restraint. Now Playing — at Lyric Into this storied lineage step Sondra Radvanovsky and Matthew Polenzani. Radvanovsky has long been celebrated for her expansive Verdi portrayals and for her command of roles that demand both vocal brilliance and emotional depth. Her voice combines radiant upper registers with a For Maria Callas, the role became a signature... Jon Vickers offered a Jason of granite... Maria Callas and Jon Vickers in Medea. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images