Dialogues des Carmélites

Francis Poulenc
Production from 2017
Co-production La Monnaie / De Munt, Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris) (delegated co-productor)

‘We are not afraid: we imagine we are afraid. Fear is a delusion sent by the devil.’ In his screenplay Dialogues des Carmélites, later adapted for the stage, Georges Bernanos tells the tragic story of the nuns of a Carmelite convent who, during the Terror following the French Revolution, live in hope and fear under the constant threat of the guillotine. Francis Poulenc’s mystical opera is an outlier in his œuvre: its dramatic main theme and traditional tonal language show the influence of Musorgsky, Monteverdi, Debussy, and Verdi. Alain Altinoglu’s musical interpretation and Olivier Py’s pared-down, ascetic directing, acclaimed in Paris in 2013, make of this work a profound reflection on death, fear, and the will to live. ‘We do not die each for ourselves, but one for the other, or even one in place of the other, who knows?’

Direction
Olivier Py

Set design and costumes
Pierre-André Weitz

Music director
Alain Altinoglu