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Showing posts from November, 2024

Benjamin - Picture a day like this, at the Opéra Comique in Paris

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Opéra Comique, Paris, Wednesday October 30 2024 An edited version of t his post will be published on Parterre.com Conductor: George Benjamin. Production, sets and lighting: Marie-Christine Soma, Daniel Jeanneteau. Costumes: Marie La Rocca. Videos: Hicham Berrada. Woman: Marianne Crebassa. Zabelle: Anna Prohaska. Lover 1/Composer: Beate Mordal. Lover 2/Composer's assistant: Cameron Shahbazi. Artisan/collector: John Brancy. Actors: Matthieu Baquey, Lisa Grandmottet, Eulalie Rambaud. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Photos: © Jean-Louis Fernandez My first opera of the new season in Paris, after kicking off in Brussels with Kris Defoort’s thought-provoking The Day of our Singing , was another nearly-new work, totally new to me: Sir George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this . Like Benjamin’s much-admired Written on Skin , The Day of our Singing has (like all his operas, in fact) a libretto by Martin Crimp, was first performed at the Aix Festival (in this case in 2023), and has