Singer

[EXTRAIT] LE SOULIER DE SATIN by Marc-André Dalbavie

Aida

All peace is followed by war, behind all happiness awaits disaster. Tragedy also shares this universal view, and in his grand opera “Les Troyens”, Hector Berlioz presents it in the face of two women: Cassandra and Dido lose their personal happiness, as it has no place in the struggle between the peoples and heroes, and ultimately lose their life. In the first part of “The Trojans” the seeress Cassandra proclaims the fall of Troy. Being the only one to do so, none believe her. With her entire people, she falls victim to the Greeks’ stratagem. In the second part, Berlioz puts Dido, Queen of Carthage, at the centre of the piece. Her love for the Trojan hero Aeneas turns to hate when he leaves her to found a new Troy.  Berlioz wrote the libretto loosely based on Vergil’s Aeneid. He went his own way with the music, which was never performed in its entirety while the composer lived, to produce grand opéra, spectacular choirs and ballets, along with new form experiments. Les Troyens remains a challenge for musical theatre to this day, and is indeed one of the monumental conceptual pieces of the previous century.

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Les Troyens

Nationaltheater

Orlando, written based on the libretto by Carlo Sigismondo Capece for L'Orlando, overo, La gelosa pazzia by Domenico Scarlatti (1717), which is in turn based on Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (1532), is the first of three operas by the English composer of German origin based on the epic poem, and was composed for the Royal Academy of Music in 1733. This year, Rafael R. Villalobos has been commissioned to create a new opera production, and he will return to Peralada to direct another Handelesque work. In honour of the occasion, the festival brings together a cast of acclaimed voices, including countertenor Xavier Sabata (Orlando), soprano Sabina Puértolas (Angelica), baritone Jose Antonio López (Zoroastro), Marie Lys (Dorinda) and Eve-Maud Hubeaux (Medoro). They will be accompanied by the Baroque music ensemble Vespres d’Arnadí, conducted by Dani Espasa from the harpsichord. The young, accomplished regista from Seville focuses the plot on the love triangle between Angelica, Medoro and Dorinda, three characters usually played by women. Drawing links to Orlando: A Biography (1928) by Virginia Woolf, and The Hours, Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning novel that was brought to the big screen by Stephen Daldry, Villalobos delves into Orlando as “an intimate array of characters, especially the trio of female protagonists, who are under the constant shadow of the hero onto whom they project their own desires”. This bright, musical performance plays with literary and cinematic references, and aims to capture the essence of the world created by the Bloomsbury Group and their influence on contemporary culture.

Orlando

"The subject for the 'Satin Slipper' comes from a Chinese legend about two celestial stars in love who, each year, having travelled far, manage to come within reach of each other without ever being able to come together from the disparate sides of the Milky Way.” So surmised Paul Claudel. The play, whose power of attraction has never wavered, occupies a special place in the theatrical repertoire of the 20th century: Written between 1919 and 1924 and first staged by Jean-Louis Barrault in an abridged version in 1943, it would have to await Antoine Vitez to be performed in its entirety. That production, performed in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes in 1987, lasted over ten hours and marked an entire generation of theatregoers, including Marc-André Dalbavie. Alternatively titled 'The Worst Is Not Always Certain', The Satin Slipper is an immense parable which alternates between the sublime, the comic and the disturbing. It is set in a specific era—the Spanish Golden Age—during which humanity experiences its first bout of “globalization”. Confronting a passionate desire for individual happiness, external imperatives and an aspiration for the universal, the work leads the spectator into a ongoing state hovering between hypnosis and joy. This new opera is the third world-premiere production commissioned by the Paris Opera for its cycle on French literature.

Le Soulier de satin

Palais Garnier

Schon wieder hat Jupiter für sich ein Objekt der Begierde ausgemacht, die schöne Nymphe Io. Ihre Auserwähltheit bleibt nicht lange geheim: Ihr Verlobter Hiérax beklagt schon ihre Untreue, bevor etwas passiert ist, aber obwohl Jupiter seine glanzvolle Macht und Größe vor ihr ausbreitet, lehnt Io seine Anträge ab. Das nützt ihr aber nichts, denn Juno, Jupiters nicht grundlos permanent eifersüchtige Gemahlin, hat ebenfalls Wind von der neuesten Schwärmerei ihres Mannes bekommen und will die Rivalin auf jeden Fall ausschalten. Jupiters Vernebelungstaktiken greifen nicht, Juno bringt Io in ihre Gewalt und setzt sie schrecklichen Qualen aus: Sie muss, von Furien verschleppt, in der kältesten Zone der Erde beinahe erfrieren, in der heißesten fast zerschmelzen. Als Io an Ägyptens Mittelmeerküste angespült wird, ist sie fast tot. Nun greift Jupiter endlich ein, er versöhnt sich mit Juno und macht Io unsterblich: Aus der Nymphe wird die ägyptische Göttin Isis. Diese personenreiche Tragédie en  musique mit dem obligatorischen, den Königverherrlichenden Prolog und fünf  abwechslungsreichen Akten, war die fünfte Zusammenarbeit zwischen Jean-Baptiste  Lully und dem Dichter Philippe Quinault, aber Isis blieb stets eine der unbekanntesten  Opern der beiden, was nicht unbedingt an der musikalischen Qualität liegt. Sie erhielt sogar den Beinamen „Die Oper der Musiker“: Die  Instrumentierung ist besonders farbig und fantasievoll, die Partitur birgt zahlreiche Schätze, so die Verzweiflungsarie der Io, „Terminez mes tourments“, den geradezu revuehaften dritten Akt, in dem die Geschichte von Pan und Syrinx wie eine Oper in  der Oper als Spiegelung der Haupthandlung gezeigt wird und die Schilderung der  Qualen von Io im vierten Akt. Der „Choeur des Trembleurs“, der vor Kälte Zitternden,  soll Vorbild für Purcells „Frost Scene“ in King Arthur gewesen sein. Trotzdem war Isis  ein Reinfall und beendete die Karriere des genialen Duos Lully/Quinault, denn sie  waren zu dreist geworden: Das Libretto barg eine unmissverständliche Anspielung auf die aktuelle Konkurrenz zweier Mätressen Ludwigs XIV. Der König war nicht  erfreut, und Isis sowie weitere Arbeiten Quinaults waren bei Hofe nicht mehr  erwünscht. 

Ève-Maud Hubeaux

Mezzo-soprano

Events

1 - 23 Jul, 2022

Aida · Savonlinna Opera Festival

May 9 - Jul 10, 2022

Les Troyens · Bayerische Staatsoper

Jul 30, 2021

Orlando · Festival Castell de Peralada

May 21 - Jun 13, 2021

Le Soulier de satin · Opéra national de Paris

Feb 22, 2020

Isis ·

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