Charles Dutoit conducts Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust – With Ruxandra Donose (Marguerite), Charles Castronovo (Faust), Willard White (Méphistophélès)...

Faust is a victim of the "malady of his century," the feeling characterized by melancholy and dissatisfaction which marked artistic creation in the beginning of the 19th century and set the basis of the Romantic Movement. He meets Mephistopheles, embodiment of the devil, who introduces him to the young Marguerite. The two young lovers celebrate their feelings in a duet "Love has taken my ravished soul." But in order to avoid disgrace and Marguerite's mother's fury, they have to part.

On stage, talented singers as Romanian Ruxandra Donose (Marguerite), who has performed in the most prestigious theatres and festivals (such as Covent Garden, the Opéra Bastille, the Metropolitan Opera, the Salzburg Festival...) and received the second prize of the ARD International Music Competition in 1990; Charles Castronovo (Faust) who made his debut as Faust in 2011 in Nice, France, and later at the Palau de la Musica, Valencia in 2013. In 2015, he is to sing Faust at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and at the Berliner Philharmonie, without forgetting the bass-baritones Willard White and Charles Dekeyser. The American Collegiate Chorale has been familiar with Verbier since 2005 and will be back at the Festival this summer. For this performance, they meet with the Verbier Festival Orchestra and their music director Charles Dutoit.

Credits

Picture: © Nicolas Brodard.