Admin

Organization

Singer

Baritone

Stéphane Degout

Pelleas

Bass-baritone

Vincent Le Texier

Golaud

Bass

Franz-Josef Selig

Arkel

Jérôme Varnier

Doctor

Soprano

Elena Tsallagova

Melisande

Mezzo-soprano

Anne Sofie von Otter

Genevieve

Conductor

Philippe Jordan

Stage director

Robert Wilson

Giuseppe Frigeni

Costume designer

Frida Parmeggiani

Set designer

Lighting designer

Heinrich Brunke

Dramaturge

Holm Keller

Chorus master

Alessandro Di Stefano

Child vocalist

Julie Mathevet

Yniold

Opéra National de Paris

Others

Chœur de l’Opéra national de Paris

Orchestra

Paris Opera Orchestra

French

Pelléas et Mélisande -  (Pelléas and Mélisande)

Paris

France

Opéra Bastille

Debussy's masterpiece is brought to life with Philippe Jordan's music direction and Robert Wilson's fairytale-like sets and starring Stéphane Degout, Elena Tsallagova, Vincent Le Texier, and Anne Sofie von Otter.

Before discovering Maeterlinck's play, Debussy already had visions of his future opera: "Music begins when words are powerless to express; music is perfect for the inexpressible; I would like it to seem to come out of the shadows and, at times, to go back, always discreet." Maëterlinck's characters gave Debussy the inspiration he needed to make his dreams a reality…

A fateful enchantment holds sway over the castle of Allemonde. When Prince Golaud (Vincent le Texier), grandson of the aging King of Allemonde, meets the young and beautiful Mélisande (Elena Tsallagova) – a mysterious being with long hair – he knows nothing about her, but soon he marries her. Soon after Golaud brings her to his home, they find themselves unable to leave his family’s castle, a place racked by desolation and decay. A few months later, Golaud tells his dear half-brother Pelléas (Stéphane Degout) about his wedding. But Pelléas himself seems to be falling in love with the same young woman...

The Paris Opéra de la Bastille celebrated the 150th birthday of Claude Debussy with the "miraculous" (Le Figaro) staging of "Pelléas et Mélisande" by avant-garde director Robert Wilson with a star cast. Stéphane Degout, Elena Tsallagova and Vincent Le Texier delighted audiences and press alike; but the smaller roles were also cast by top-class actors who were worthy of this special occasion: Anne Sofie von Otter and Franz-Josef Selig. "The singers have integrated Wilson's language of gesture and lighting to a degree unmatched by previous casts" (Le Figaro).

The production by Robert Wilson, a co-production of the Opéra national de Paris and the Salzburg Festival, is considered "a masterpiece for its restraint, for the stylization of the characters and the distribution of light, which evokes a genuine aesthetic feeling at every moment, with every movement". (l'Humanite). She creates a panorama of sober, austere images, dominated by subtle lighting and shifting color planes, in which the characters move delicately and attract our attention through minimalist gestures that bring new layers of meaning to this opera. Wilson produced it alongside his creative team: Heinrich Brunke (lighting design) and Frida Parmeggiani (costumes), both of whom also worked with him on his legendary, groundbreaking production of "

Philippe Jordan, the young music director of the Opéra national de Paris, transparently reads Debussy's haunting music, a rich tapestry of shimmering, iridescent sounds. Debussy was based on his work - his only completed opera! - on a Symbolist play by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Maurice Maeterlinck about a fateful love that leads to uncontrollable jealousy and murderous revenge.

When it premiered at the Opéra Comique de Paris in 1902, "Pelléas et Mélisande" caused a major scandal, as the conservative, conformist opera audience of the time personally grappled with the radical modernity of the work. It is common to think of Debussy as the French answer to Wagner, who also shocked audiences with the modernity of his musical idiom and also used prose-like texts for some of his works. Despite the scandal, "Pelléas" was an enormous success, and the first performance at the Opéra Comique was followed by over a hundred performances.

Pelléas et Mélisande Debussy

Public

Pelléas and Mélisande

Approved

Pelléas and Mélisande by Debussy, From (2012/2012), Directed by Robert Wilson, Giuseppe Frigeni,, Conductor Philippe Jordan, Opéra Bastille, Paris, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues