Opera

Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande

Robert Wilson (stage director), Philippe Jordan (music director) – With Stéphane Degout (Pelléas), Elena Tsallagova (Mélisande), Anne Sofie von Otter (Geneviève), Vincent le Texier (Golaud)

Live

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Cast

Robert Wilson — Stage director, set designer, lighting

Frida Parmeggiani — Costumes

Heinrich Brunke — Lighting

Holm Keller — Dramaturgy

Giuseppe Frigeni — Co-stage director

Stephanie Engeln — Collaboration on sets

Alessandro di Stefano — Chorus master

Stéphane Degout — Pelléas

Vincent Le Texier — Golaud

Franz Josef Selig — Arkel

Jérôme Varnier — Un Médecin, Le Berger

Elena Tsallagova — Mélisande

Anne Sofie von Otter — Geneviève

Julie Mathevet — Le petit Yniold

Paris Opera Orchestra

Philippe Jordan — Music director

Program notes

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...

This opera was broadcast live on medici.tv.

A closer look: composers and works

Appears in

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