Thursday 6 November 2014

World première of 'Le Petit Prince' by Michaël Levinas in Lausanne


Yesterday, Le Petit Prince, new opera composed by Michaël Levinas, with a libretto by the composer after the novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, was performed for the first time in Lausanne.

© Marc Vanappelghem
I wrote a lyrical piece addressed to children and adults from all cultures, which puts into song the story and message of the Little Prince, an extraordinary being from another place, a luminous and enigmatic child that Saint-Exupéry happens upon in the desert. The theatrical myth of the Little Prince takes on a near Mozart-like dimension. It expresses both wonder and grace, but also ultimate frailty and the sense of gravity experienced when faced with the ruthlessness of human reality: therein lies its paradoxical strength.
(Michaël Levinas, reproduced from the Opéra de Lausanne website)
The opera has been designed for audiences from 7 to 77 years. It should last about 75 minutes. It is the composer's fourth vocal work for the stage, after Go-gol (1996), Les Nègres (2003) and La Métamorphose (2010).

The cast includes Jeanne Crousaud (Le Petit Prince), Vincent Lièvre-Picard (The Aviator), Catherine Trottmann (Rose), Rodrigo Ferreira, Benoit Capt, Alexandre Diakoff and Céline Soudain. The Chamber Orchestra of Geneva is conducted by Arie van Beek. The director is Lilo Baur. The opera is a coproduction between several Swiss and French opera houses. It will be performed in Lille in December, in Geneva in January 2015 and in Paris in February.

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