Samson
Friday 12 July 2024 Opéra

SAMSON BY RAMEAU

CONDUCTOR RAPHAËL PICHON — STAGE DIRECTOR CLAUS GUTH
  • Recording Date 12 July 2024
  • Language Sung in French
  • Realisation Corentin Leconte
  • Co-production ARTE France, Camera Lucida
  • Video available for replay until Monday 11 January 2027
  • Photo © Monika Rittershaus

BROADCASTED ON

NEW WORK BY CLAUS GUTH AND RAPHAËL PICHON FREELY BASED ON SAMSON, A LOST OPERA BY JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU AND A CENSURED LIBRETTO BY FRANÇOIS-MARIE AROUET DIT VOLTAIRE (1734 AND 1736), INSPIRED BY THE BIBLE (THE BOOK OF JUDGES)

WORLD PREMIERE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
A COPRODUCTION WITH THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE

GRANDE DONATRICE D’EXCEPTION DU FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE

WITH THE SUPPORT OF AMMODO, KAROLINA BLABERG STIFTUNG MÉCÈNE ORIGINELLE DE LA CRÉATION AND CERCLE DES MÉCÈNES ASSOCIÉS

Conductor and musical concept
Raphaël Pichon*
Stage direction, concept and scenario
Claus Guth
Set design
Étienne Pluss
Costume design
Ursula Kudrna
Lighting design and video
Bertrand Couderc
Choreography
Sommer Ulrickson
Sound design
Mathis Nitschke
Editorial associate
Eddy Garaudel
Dramaturgy
Yvonne Gebauer
Conductor's assistant
David Belkovski
Vocal coach, harpsichord
Ronan Khalil*
Staging assistants
Juana Inés Cano Restrepo, Romain Gilbert
Set design assistant
Manuel La Casta
Costume assistant
Louise-Fee Nitschke
Dance captain
Evie Poaros
Samson
Jarrett Ott
Dalila
Jacquelyn Stucker
Timna
Lea Desandre*
Achisch
Nahuel di Pierro
Elon
Laurence Kilsby
L'Ange
Julie Roset*
Premier juge / Un convive
Antonin Rondepierre
Deuxième convive
René Ramos Premier
La Mère de Samson
Andréa Ferréol
Samson jeune
Gabriel Coullaud-Rosseel
Un sans-abri
Pascal Lifschutz
Dancers
Gal Fefferman, Theo Emil Krausz, Victoria McConnell, Manuel Meza, Rouven Pabst, Francesco Pacelli, Dan Pelleg, Marion Plantey, Evie Poaros, Robin Rohrmann, Victor Villarreal, Marko Weigert
Extras
Alexandre Charlet, Arnaud Fiore, Jacky Kumanovic
Choir and Orchestra
Pygmalion
*Former artists of the Académie

When, in 1733, Voltaire, the most brilliant mind of his day, collaborates with Rameau, its greatest composer, in undertaking an ambitious reform of operatic practice, the result is the biblical opera Samson. But the libretto is condemned and the score lost – possibly reworked here and there in later compositions. Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon, haunted by this interesting project that had turned into one of the most intriguing failures in operatic history, have tried, not to recreate the letter, but to revive the spirit: to marry a strong, noble libretto with the most eloquent music. Samson is the chosen of God, but his extraordinary strength isolates him as much as it marks him out: a succession of failed love affairs turns him into a destructive force, making this biblical Hercules the first suicidal to be a mass murderer. Supporting Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker and Lea Desandre in the principal roles, the Pygmalion chorus and orchestra become important actors in a fresco that is both sublime and astonishingly modern.

LISTEN TO THE PRELUDE

Related event