La Voix Humaine opera

Forum Box | 12.11.2022 | 19:00 | Gratis inträde

Francis Poulenc‘s one-woman opera La Voix Humaine is Elle’s final phone call to her lover. He has abandoned her for someone else. The audience can only hear one side of the conversation and it is left up to the listeners themselves to imagine what the other end of the call might be saying.

There are several disruptions during the conversation, with both annoying old ladies calling the wrong number and background noise. But behind the small talk and the confusion there is true distress. Elle eventually also admits that the facade she was trying to keep up during the beginning of the conversation is not true at all. In fact, she tried committing suicide in the despair of losing the man she loves.

Kaija Saariaho‘s soprano duet From the Grammar of Dreams will act as a prelude to the opera. It consists of five short movements with lyrics from Sylvia Plath‘s novel The Bell Jar and the poetry collection Ariel and they all deal with existential questions about life and death.

Performers:
Linnéa Sundfær Casserly (soprano)
Viena Kangas (soprano)
Sini Linnea Ström (accordion)