OPERA IN SEARCH OF HUMANITY

WITH RAPHAËL PICHON AND WILLIAM MARX

Moderator Timothée Picard, dramaturge and artistic advisor at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
Langues In French and English
Video available for replay until Wednesday, June 30, 2027
Photo © Piergab / Musée d’Orsay - Sophie Crépy

By placing the 2026 Festival’s theme of ‘In Search of Humanity’ in perspective, this discussion explores what makes opera not merely a reflection of the world, its difficulties and its upheavals, but also an invitation to reconnect with our shared humanity through an optimistic lens. To this end, opera constructs collective narratives, exemplary journeys and formative experiences. As the quintessential total artwork, larger than life and more intense than life itself, opera offers a privileged means of approaching the essence of the human condition.

With Raphaël Pichon (conductor of Requiem) and William Marx (professor of comparative literature at Le Collège de France)