SAMSON
JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764)
WORLD PREMIERE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
A COPRODUCTION WITH THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
GRANDE MÉCÈNE D’EXCEPTION
AMMODO AND CERCLE DES MÉCÈNES ASSOCIÉS
NEW WORK BY CLAUS GUTH AND RAPHAËL PICHON FREELY BASED ON SAMSON, A LOST OPERA BY JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU AND A CENSURED LIBRETTO BY FRANÇOIS-MARIE AROUET DIT VOLTAIRE (1734 AND 1736), INSPIRED BY THE BIBLE (THE BOOK OF JUDGES)
CONDUCTOR AND MUSICAL CONCEPT Raphaël Pichon*
STAGE DIRECTION, CONCEPT AND SCENARIO Claus Guth
SET DESIGN Étienne Pluss
COSTUME DESIGN Ursula Kudrna
LIGHTING DESIGN Bertrand Couderc
CHOREOGRAPHY Sommer Ulrickson
SOUND DESIGN Mathis Nitschke
VIDEO rocafilm
EDITORIAL ASSOCIATE Eddy Garaudel
DRAMATURGY Yvonne Gebauer
SAMSON Jarrett Ott
DALILA Jacquelyn Stucker
TIMNA Lea Desandre*
ACHISCH Nahuel di Pierro
ELON Laurence Kilsby
L'ANGE Julie Roset*
UN CONVIVE Antonin Rondepierre
LA MÈRE DE SAMSON Andréa Ferréol
CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA Pygmalion
*FORMER ARTISTS OF THE ACADÉMIE
ABOUT
When, in 1733, Voltaire, the most brilliant mind of his day, collaborates with Rameau, its greatest composer, in undertaking an ambitious reform of operatic practice, the result is the biblical opera Samson. But the libretto is condemned and the score lost – possibly reworked here and there in later compositions. Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon, haunted by this interesting project that had turned into one of the most intriguing failures in operatic history, have tried, not to recreate the letter, but to revive the spirit: to marry a strong, noble libretto with the most eloquent music. Samson is the chosen of God, but his extraordinary strength isolates him as much as it marks him out: a succession of failed love affairs turns him into a destructive force, making this biblical Hercules the first suicidal to be a mass murderer. Supporting Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker and Lea Desandre in the principal roles, the Pygmalion chorus and orchestra become important actors in a fresco that is both sublime and astonishingly modern.