The Raft of the Medusa

Hans Werner Henzes The Raft of the Medusa is directly inspired by Théodore Géricaults famous painting The German composer sets to music the fate of 150 people who have been shipwrecked and abandoned to their destiny This is a radical work that fluctuates between hope and inevitability agony and sudden bursts of life The Raft of the Medusa is an oratorio that was first performed in 1968 Fifty years on the Italian director Romeo Castellucci underscores its immense modernity drawing a striking parallel between Hans Werner Henzes work and the current migrant crisis in the Mediterranean