By David Rubin [CNY CafÈ Momus, 10 July 2011]
To open its 2011 season, the Glimmerglass Festival outside Cooperstown, New York offered two French operas with strong (and nasty) women at their centers: Georges Bizet’s chestnut Carmen, and Luigi Cherubini’s rarity Medea. First performed in 1793, Medea has never been very popular. Carmen was clearly meant to sell tickets. Medea was meant to attract attention.