Hydra Suite

Ballet for Fixed Media, Live Musicians, and Seven to Ten Dancers (2021)

Listen: Hydra Suite (2021), II. passapied & III. Castratio
Live performance (drums, keyboards, noise and trill strings, flute tones), electronic manipulations, and production by C.M.Newman (Premiered at Festival Methexis, Puebla, Mexico, August 15, 2025):

Originally composed as music for a multimedia ballet, these works are based on the Greek mythology of the Lernaean Hydra- the multi-headed serpent who grew two heads for every one cut off. Hercules was tasked with killing the monster as his second labor and used a flaming torch to cauterize the severed head wounds, preventing regrowth. This violent symbolism influenced many aspects of the instrumentation and sound quality of these synthesized orchestral-style works, where the straightforward aspects of melody are surrounded by chattering, and quaking strings, and washes of noise. The ballet aspect of this work is still a work in progress, and is currently under development. Stay tuned for updates.

Hydra Suite, Concept 1 (2021), c. 2021, C.M.Newman

Plot Timeline

I. Mount Olympus

1.Hera, Zeus, and his children of infidelity

2. Hera’s Vengeance

3. Birth of the Hydra (pasapied – castratio)

II. Heracles and Iolus in the Wilderness

4. Heracles and the voyage

5. Heracles and Iolus in the swamp

III. Heracles and the Hydra

6. Heracles battles the Hydra

7. Death of the Hydra

Hydra Suite, Concept 2 (2021), c. 2021, C.M.Newman

Hydra Suite, Assembled Hydra (corps de ballet) Concept 1 (2021), c. 2021, C.M.Newman