Blanche de la Force, a young woman plagued all her life by existential fears, flees them into the convent of the Carmelites, but both her own feelings and also the reality of the French Revolution catch up with her. The nuns are arrested and condemned. In her mortal fear Blanche at first seeks shelter in the ruined house of her father, until on the day of execution she finds the strength to follow her sisters to the guillotine.

The execution of the sixteen martyred nuns of Compiègne, who lost their lives under the guillotine on 17 July 1794, had already found artistic expression several times before the opera by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) “Dialogues des Carmélites” was first performed in 1957. For the writer Gertrud von Le Fort in her story “Last to the Scaffold” (English title: “Song at the Scaffold”) in 1931 it presented a timeless study of the fear of life and death.


“The Deutsche Oper am Rhein offers magnificent music-theatre in its newest production. The stage is a closeted hermetic precinct which excludes the threat of frivolous unbelief. Director Guy Joosten ingeniously matches Leiacker’s concentration on spatially subdued transformation of symbols”
Wolfram Goertz, Rheinische Post



The "operascouts" of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein visited the premiére of Poulenc's "Dialogues des Carmélites". Read what they thought about this production (in English and German): http://opernscouts-operamrhein.com
 
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Francis Poulenc

DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES
Opéra in three acts and twelve scenes
Libretto by the composer after the eponymous drama by Georges Bernanos

 
In French with German surtitles
 

Musikalische Leitung Axel Kober
Inszenierung Guy Joosten
Bühne und Kostüme Johannes Leiacker
Licht Manfred Voss
Chorleitung Christoph Kurig
Produktionsdramaturg Luc Joosten
Dramaturgie Bernhard F. Loges
 
Marquis de la Force James Bobby
Blanche Anett Fritsch
Chevalier Corby Welch
Madame de Croissy, Priorin Renée Morloc
Madame Lidoine, neue Priorin Jessica Stavros
Mère Marie Jeanne Piland
Soeur Constance Iulia Elena Surdu
Mère Jeanne Katarzyna Kuncio
Soeur Mathilde Charlotte Quadt
Beichtvater Bruce Rankin
Erster Kommissar Florian Simson
Zweiter Kommissar Lukasz Konieczny
Offizier Bogdan Baciu
Kerkermeister Dmitry Lavrov
Thierry Dmitry Lavrov
Chor Chor der Deutschen Oper am Rhein
Orchester Düsseldorfer Symphoniker