Sessions
With a single strong plot and striking music, this total show presents today’s audiences with the edifying tragedy dreamt by Voltaire.
Samson is known for his godlike strength and his passion for Dalila. But his divine birth, announced by an angel, also made him a saviour and a judge while his hopeless self-control, literal and figurative blindness and failures in love made him a hero marked by fate.
Voltaire’s ambition was to offer Rameau a philosophical, rather than academic, opera libretto based on this character from the Book of Judges. But royal censors refused to see the Sacred History dragged onto secular stages. Rameau thus abandoned the project and recycled his score in his later works.
The 1734 project, which cannot be strictly restored, inspired Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon to adopt a more extended and collective frame of reference. The scenario of Samson’s life is cleverly accompanied by a perfect music montage intended to be as true as possible to the original. With a single strong plot and striking music, this total show presents today’s audiences with the edifying tragedy dreamt by Voltaire.
Creation by Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon based on Samson. An opera creation project by Jean- Philippe Rameau, on a censored Voltaire libretto, created on 4th July 2024 at the Festival d’Aix-En-Provence
Musical direction, Raphaël Pichon • Stage direction, Claus Guth • With Jarrett Ott, Ana Maria Labin, Julie Roset, Mirco Palazzi, Laurence Kilsby, Camille Chopin, Richard Pittsinger, Andrea Ferréol, Pascal Lifschutz, a child from la Maîtrise Populaire of the Opéra-Comique • Choir and Orchestra, Pygmalion
See all the castEstimated duration : 2h40, including intermission - Salle Favart
175, 145, 115, 80, 50, 35, 15, 6 €
Show performed in French with French and English surtitles
The doors of the opera-house open 45 minutes before the performance.
Les Pléiades
Around the show
Each lyrical production is accompanied by our Pléiades, which extend and enrich the content of the performances in accessible, offbeat, prospective or intimate formats.
Before the show
Accessibility
Audiodescription (In French) | Friday 21 March at 8 pm and Sunday 23 March at 3 pm
This opera is available in audio description. "Image whisperers” are also available on demand.
Production: Accès Culture
Relax session | Sunday 23 March at 3 pm
Relax sessions offer a inclusive caring environment for people whose disability may give rise to atypical and unpredictable behaviour during the show.
Artistic team
A free creation by Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon based on Samson.
An opera project by Jean-Philippe Rameau, with a censored libretto by Voltaire.
Artistic team
Cast
Production & co-production
World premiere July 4, 2024 at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence. Produced by the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, in coproduction with Opéra-Comique. With the support of Karolina Blaberg Stiftung, patron of creation in Aix-en-Provence.
With the support of
And Karolina Blaberg Stiftung, patron of creative work in the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
In partnership with
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Abonnements
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Carte Favart
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Places à l’unité
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Mécènes du Cercle Favart
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