Messiaen – St François d’Assise
Opéra National de Paris – Bastille: October 20 2004 Conductor: Sylvain Cambreling. Production: Stanislas Nordey. L'Ange: Christine Schäfer. Saint François: José Van Dam. Le Lépreux: Chris Merritt. Frère Léon: Brett Polegato. Frère Massée: Charles Workman. Frère Elie: Christoph Homberger. Frère Bernard: Roland Bracht. Frère Sylvestre: Guillaume Antoine. Frère Ruffin: David Bizic. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. To some extent, Paris was lying in wait for this new production of St François , the third since 1983. It raised questions that added fuel to simmering disgruntlement with the new management. Did we really need a new production, not actually having had the opportunity to tire of Peter Sellar’s very good (and no doubt expensive) 1992 one? Was it wise to programme so many performances? Why two 40-minute intermissions, leading to a six-hour evening starting at 5.30 p.m. even on weekdays – and to about one third of empty seats? Even the first night was more s...