La Monnaie / De Munt LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
Penelope
© Slevin Aaron
Opera in concert

Pénélope
Gabriel Fauré

Presentation

AFTER A 20-YEAR WAIT...

‘Vague and precise, mysterious and clear like a child’s look, absent and present like a summer night...’ With the French philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch, we could say that, at the turning point between two eras, Fauré’s musical idiom cannot be captured in words. Fauré had a penchant for Antiquity and after years of searching was finally provided with a suitable libretto by the soprano Lucienne Bréval. In Pénélope, inspired by Odysseus’ return home as described by Homer in the Odyssey, we hear the mature Fauré at the peak of his powers. The ‘poème lyrique’ label and the soulful soprano part show that the composer was concerned above all with Penelope’s inner drama – ‘I still have so much love to give him.’ This portrait of marital love is Fauré’s only opera and is also his last masterpiece. The conductor Michel Plasson, a specialist in the French repertoire, and the soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci leave you in no doubt about that.

Dates & tickets

 – 

Location

Centre for Fine Arts

Running time

ca 2:30

Prices

Cat 1 - € 74 / Cat 2 - € 54
Cat 3 - € 40 / Cat 4 - € 18

Language

Sung in French
Surtitles in French and in Dutch

Presentation

Pre-performance talks 30' before the start of the performances by Jacqueline Guisset (in French) & Serge Algoet (in Dutch)

Streaming

Radio broadcast Klara
25.03.2017

Radio broadcast Musiq’3
01.04.2017

Concertante opera


  • Poème lyrique en 3 actes
  • Paroles de René Fauchois
  • Musique de Gabriel Fauré
  • Premiere Opéra de Monte-Carlo, 4/3/1913
Dates & tickets

Dates

Cast
Cast

Conductor MICHEL PLASSON
Chorus master MARTINO FAGGIANI

Pénélope ANNA CATERINA ANTONACCI
Ulysse YVES SAELENS
Euryclée SYLVIE BRUNET-GRUPPOSO
Eumée VINCENT LE TEXIER
Eurymaque PIERRE DOYEN
Antinoüs JULIEN DRAN
Cléone ANGÉLIQUE NOLDUS
Mélantho BLANDINE STASKIEWICZ
Léodès MAXIME MELNIK**
Ctésippe NABIL SULIMAN
Lydie JULIE MATHEVET
Phylo JULIA SZPROCH*
Alkandre / EurynomeVIRGINIE LÉONARD**
Pisandre KAMIL BEN HSAIN LACHIRI**
Un PâtreMARIA PORTELA LARISCH

La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
La Monnaie Chorus Academy led by Benoît Giaux
*Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel
**Soloists of La Monnaie Chorus Academy

PRODUCTION La Monnaie / De Munt
CO-PRESENTATION Bozar Music
WITH THE SUPPORT OF Loterie Nationale