SAMSON

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU (1683-1764)

WORLD PREMIERE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
A COPRODUCTION WITH THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE

GRANDE DONATRICE D’EXCEPTION DU FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE

WITH THE SUPPORT OF AMMODO, KAROLINA BLABERG STIFTUNG MÉCÈNE ORIGINELLE DE LA CRÉATION AND CERCLE DES MÉCÈNES ASSOCIÉS

Opera

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)

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Conductor and musical concept
Raphaël Pichon*
Stage direction, concept and scenario
Claus Guth
Set design
Étienne Pluss
Costume design
Ursula Kudrna
Lighting design and video
Bertrand Couderc
Choreography
Sommer Ulrickson
Sound design
Mathis Nitschke
Editorial associate
Eddy Garaudel
Dramaturgy
Yvonne Gebauer
Conductor's assistant
David Belkovski
Vocal coach, harpsichord
Ronan Khalil*
Staging assistants
Juana Inés Cano Restrepo, Romain Gilbert
Set design assistant
Manuel La Casta
Costume assistant
Louise-Fee Nitschke
Dance captain
Evie Poaros
Samson
Jarrett Ott
Dalila
Jacquelyn Stucker
Timna
Lea Desandre*
Achisch
Nahuel di Pierro
Elon
Laurence Kilsby
L'Ange
Julie Roset*
Premier juge / Un convive
Antonin Rondepierre
Deuxième convive
René Ramos Premier
La Mère de Samson
Andréa Ferréol
Samson jeune
Gabriel Coullaud-Rosseel
Un sans-abri
Pascal Lifschutz
Dancers
Gal Fefferman, Theo Emil Krausz, Victoria McConnell, Manuel Meza, Rouven Pabst, Francesco Pacelli, Dan Pelleg, Marion Plantey, Evie Poaros, Robin Rohrmann, Victor Villarreal, Marko Weigert
Extras
Alexandre Charlet, Arnaud Fiore, Jacky Kumanovic
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.

LISTEN TO THE PRELUDE

Performances

Thursday4July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Saturday6July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Tuesday9July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Friday12July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Monday15July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Thursday18July 2024
Théâtre de l'Archevêché9:30 PM
Catégorie Plus
€300.00
Catégorie 1
€220.00
Catégorie 2
€175.00
Catégorie 3
€135.00
Catégorie 4
€93.00
Catégorie 5
€60.00
Catégorie 6
€32.00

Youth prices: €90, €66, €52, €40, €27, €18, €10

Performance available with ticket packages and Dinner & Opera offer

Sung in French with French and English surtitles
2 hours and 40 minutes with one interval

GETTING TO THE FESTIVAL
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MEDIA

[ PREPARING FOR THE FESTIVAL ] SET CONSTRUCTION

See photos of the set construction for Samson, based on the music of Rameau. The production, which is making its world premiere at the Festival, will be performed at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché from 4 to 18 July 2024.

2024 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence © Vincent Beaume

[ PREPARING FOR THE FESTIVAL ] INSTALLING THE SET OF SAMSON

A look back at the set construction of the world premiere Samson at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché.

Festival d’Aix-en-Provence 2024 © Vincent Beaume

[ REHEARSALS ] SAMSON

Rehearsals of SAMSON by Jean-Philippe Rameau, new work by Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon, world premiere
2024 Festival d’Aix-en-Provence © Jean-Louis Fernandez

[ PICTURES ] SAMSON

SAMSON, new work based on the lost opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, world premiere of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
Conducting and musical concept Raphaël Pichon Stage direction, concept and scenario Claus Guth
From 4 to 18 July 2024, Théâtre de l'Archevêché

2024 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence © Monika Rittershaus

PRESS

Une création captivante
— LE TEMPS

Une direction d’acteurs puissante
— LE MONDE

Un vrai spectacle de festival
— LE FIGARO

Une réalisation musicale admirable
— LES ÉCHOS

Un spectacle total
— L’HUMANITÉ

Un vrai miracle
— LE POINT

Un pari fou et réussi
— FRANCE INFO

Une réussite théâtrale et musicale
— TÉLÉRAMA

Un spectacle digne d’un grand festival
— CONCERTCLASSIC

Streamings

Broadcasted live on 12 July on ARTE.TV and later on ARTE

Voir

Broadcasted on 8 July at 8pm on France Musique

Related

LA CLEMENZA DI TITO

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791) — SEMI-STAGED CONCERT VERSION

LEA DESANDRE — THOMAS DUNFORD

Conservatoire Darius Milhaud — 8 July, 8pm

Rehearsals of Samson — 2024 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence

[ REHEARSAL NOTES ] SAMSON

[...] On tonight’s programme is a run-through of the opera’s overture and prologue, accompanied by harpsichord and organ in the absence of the orchestra. We are indeed watching a scénique clavecin — i.e. a ‘harpsichord rehearsal’ of the staging before the presence of the full orchestra. At the microphone, in a friendly but firm voice, Raphaël Pichon gives some brief musical instructions to the choir and a recap of everyone’s positions: Can they hear the instruments from the back of the stage? Do they remember when to enter? Once these practical issues are resolved, the rehearsal can begin. In the darkness of the oncoming night, the lighting and video effects bring the set to life. Alone on stage, actress Andréa Ferréol, an Aix-en-Provence native known for her numerous film roles, such as those in La Grande Bouffe and The Last Métro, plays Samson’s mother: as narrator, she recalls the birth and childhood of her long-desired son, whose strength has proved to be both a gift and a burden. In the pit, the Hebrew choir express their sorrow in song in the poignant ‘Tribus captives’, an adaptation of the chorus ‘Que tout gémisse’ from Castor et Pollux. Samson, embodied by the towering Jarrett Ott, must deliver his people from the Philistines. [...]
At the Festival
Monday, June 24, 2024