Would You Die for What You Believe In?

The French Revolution of 1789 laid the foundations of modern democracy – but it also claimed its victims, many of them entirely innocent. In 1794, sixteen nuns from Compiègne were executed by guillotine for refusing to renounce their faith. Their fate became the subject of French master composer Francis Poulenc’s opera Dialogues des Carmélites.

Dialogues des Carmélites is an opera that leaves no one untouched. It confronts us with fundamental questions about life, death, fear, and courage, and once experienced, it is impossible to forget.

Star director Barrie Kosky has created the critically acclaimed production for Glyndebourne Festival.“Dialogues des Carmélites has haunted me since I was a teenager. It made an enormous impression on me when I saw it at the age of 15, and to this day it remains one of the most important evenings of my life,” says Barrie Kosky.

The opera follows the young aristocrat Blanche, who is terrified by the violence of life and seeks refuge in a Carmelite convent. But the revolution catches up with her, and Blanche must stop fleeing from her fear and face it directly, as she and the other nuns are forced to choose between life and death.

Composer Francis Poulenc, himself a devout Catholic, transformed these historical events into music, and the opera became an immediate success at its premiere in 1957. Poulenc’s score is hauntingly beautiful – not least in the final scene, one of the most chilling endings in opera history, where the sound of the guillotine blade is literally inscribed into the music.

Soprano Elena Tsallagova appears in the role of Blanche, alongside an international cast and soloists from the Royal Danish Opera, the Royal Danish Opera Chorus, and the Royal Danish Orchestra, conducted by Asher Fisch (with Marie Jacquot conducting the performance on 10 March).

Dialogues des Carmélites is a Glyndebourne production.

Dialogues des Carmélites premieres at the Copenhagen Opera House on 8 February and runs until 10 March.

Read more about Dialogues des Carmélites HERE