Name: Samson
Start: 2024-07-07
End: 2024-07-07
Location: Théâtre de l'Archevêché

Organization

Admin

Festival d'Aix en Provence

Opéra Comique

Conductor

Raphaël Pichon

Stage director

Claus Guth

Set designer

Etienne Pluss

Costume designer

Ursula Kudrna

Lighting designer

Bertrand Couderc

Choreographer

Sommer Ulrickson

Sound designer

Mathis Nitschke

Video designer

Rocafilm

Dramaturge

Yvonne Gebauer

Assistant Stage Director

Eddy Garaudel

Singer

Jarrett Ott

Samson

Jacquelyn Stucker

Dalila

Léa Desandre

Timna

Nahuel Di Pierro

Achisch

Laurence Kilsby

Elon

Julie Roset

L'ange

Antonin Rondepierre

Un Convive

Andréa Ferréol

La mere de Samson

Others

Ensemble Pygmalion

Choeur Pygmalion

French

Aix-en-Provence

France

Théâtre de l'Archevêché

Public

Private

Sharan Allad

English

Approved

When, in 1733, Voltaire, the most brilliant mind of his day, collaborates with Rameau, its greatest composer, in undertaking an ambitious reform of operatic practice, the result is the biblical opera Samson. But the libretto is condemned and the score lost – possibly reworked here and there in later compositions. Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon, haunted by this interesting project that had turned into one of the most intriguing failures in operatic history, have tried, not to recreate the letter, but to revive the spirit: to marry a strong, noble libretto with the most eloquent music. Samson is the chosen of God, but his extraordinary strength isolates him as much as it marks him out: a succession of failed love affairs turns him into a destructive force, making this biblical Hercules the first suicidal to be a mass murderer. Supporting Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker and Lea Desandre in the principal roles, the Pygmalion chorus and orchestra become important actors in a fresco that is both sublime and astonishingly modern.

Quand, en 1733, le plus brillant esprit de son temps, Voltaire, s’associe le plus grand compositeur, Rameau, pour mener à bien une ambitieuse réforme de l’art lyrique, cela donne l’opéra biblique Samson. Mais jugé sulfureux, le livret est censuré et la partition, perdue – reprise par bribes incertaines dans des ouvrages ultérieurs. Hantés par ce projet singulier devenu l’une des plus belles chimères de l’histoire de l’opéra, Claus Guth et Raphaël Pichon ont voulu non pas en reconstituer la lettre mais en recréer l’esprit : associer un récit d’une force et d’une noblesse inédites à la plus éloquente des musiques. Samson est l’élu de Dieu mais son pouvoir extraordinaire l’isole autant qu’il le distingue : une suite d’amours trompeuses va le retourner en pulsion destructrice, faisant de l’Hercule biblique le premier suicidé meurtrier de masse. Entourant Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker et Lea Desandre dans les rôles principaux, le chœur et l’orchestre Pygmalion deviennent les acteurs à part entière d’une fresque sublime, extraordinairement actuelle.

français

Samson by Rameau, Sun 07 Jul 2024, From (2024/2024), Directed by Claus Guth,, Conductor Raphaël Pichon, Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Co-Producer

Program, About & Synopsis

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues