Above: Photo from Samson / Credit: Aix-en-Provence Festival
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Madama Butterfly
After Tosca, which marked Puccini’s entry into its repertoire, the Festival celebrates the centenary of the composer’s death this year by putting on his ‘Japanese tragedy’ Madame Butterfly: the cruel story of a vulnerable but strong and wilful heroine, driven by her blind perseverance to ritual suicide. By enveloping her with a bright lyricism and a supremely refined orchestration, Puccini reaches the heart of his artistic identity – reminding us of the real pleasure of tears. We have here a truth far from all verismo, according to Andrea Breth who suggests that everything in this work is a matter of perception and artifice: the relationship between the other singers and Butterfly, between Puccini together with his librettists and Japan, and between audiences and the opera. Conducting the orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon, Daniele Rustioni offers the finest of backdrops to Ermonela Jaho, whose rare combination of force and delicacy has made her a go-to choice in this wonderful yet harrowing role, in which she is making her prized debut in Aix.
La clemenza di Tito
What is it that drives Sextus to make an attempt on the life of his dearest friend, the emperor Titus? And what brings Titus to forgive him? After revealing all the beauties of Idomeneo in 2022, Raphaël Pichon for the first time takes on Mozart’s final masterpiece in the seria genre and imbues it with his unparalleled sense of musical theatre. To bring out the best in some of the most beautiful arias Mozart ever wrote, an exceptional cast has been assembled, made up of artists who have shone especially over the most recent years of the Festival – including Pene Pati and Karine Deshayes, who make prized appearances as Titus and Vitellia. The energetic forces of the Ensemble Pygmalion work wonders, notably in the famous virtuoso solos, while the chorus provides all the atmosphere one could ask for in the great conflagration of the Capitol.
Samson
When, in 1733, the most brilliant mind of his time, Voltaire, joined forces with the greatest composer, Rameau, to carry out an ambitious reform of lyric art, the result was the biblical opera Samson . But judged to be controversial, the libretto was censored and the score, lost – taken up in uncertain fragments in later works. Haunted by this singular project that has become one of the most beautiful chimeras in the history of opera. Samson is God’s chosen one but his extraordinary power isolates him as much as it distinguishes him: a series of deceptive loves will turn him into a destructive impulse, making the biblical Hercules the first mass-murdering suicide. Surrounding Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker and Lea Desandre in the main roles, the Pygmalion choir and orchestra become the full actors in a sublime, extraordinarily contemporary fresco.
Summaries provided by Aix-en-Provence Festival
About the Host:
Lisa Flynn has been a program host and producer for WFMT since 1991. She presents The New Releases and has hosted many programs for the WFMT Radio Network, including War Letters (which won the 2002 Peter Lisagor Award) and a series of live broadcasts from Salzburg to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday in 2006. As WFMT’s midday weekday announcer, Lisa hosts live studio performances and interviews guest artists including Renée Fleming, John Adams, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, John Eliot Gardiner, and many others. Before coming to Chicago, Lisa presented classical music at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and at WMFE and WUCF in Orlando, Florida. She holds a music degree from the University of Central Florida.
This program is a part of the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series, a series designed to complement the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to fill out the year with great Opera content. The series begins in June and lasts until December.
