Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

Soloists:

Jacques Imbrailo, Michaela Selinger, Vincent Le Texier

Orchestra, choir:

Essener Philharmoniker, Opernchor des Aalto-Theaters

Conductor:

Stefan Soltesz

Director:

Nikolaus Lehnhoff



Music full of introverted tenderness and a libretto that hints at much but offers few answers – such is Claude Debussy's only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, based on the play of the same name by the symbolist and Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck. Performed at the Aalto Theater in Essen, this groundbreaking work of early modernism was of revolutionary significance. “Conductor Stefan Soltesz knows how to bring out Debussy’s sensual tones, allowing the melody to blossom and enchanting listeners with the magic of sound. When these seraphic melodies resound from the illuminated stage, we cannot help but leave the world far behind us," wrote the critics. Veteran director Nikolaus Lehnhoff's meticulous direction has brought together actors who are perfectly suited to these wonderful melodies. The characters seem to float through the scenes, bringing to the stage the indescribable denial and disappearance of their emotions, showing the characters in this story in their obsessive loneliness. This production features young South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo as Pelléas and Michaela Selinger as Mélisande, as well as Vincent Le Texier and Doris Soffel.