On 24 March mezzo-soprano Elena Sommer will be performing the role of Geneviève in Claude Debussy’s opera Pelléas et Mélisande for the first time (production by Daniel Kramer).
Debussy’s only finished opera, Pelléas et Mélisande was written to a libretto by Maurice Maeterlinck, the author of the acclaimed L’Oiseau bleu. When the composer first met the company that was to perform his opera he said paradoxically that “First of all, ladies and gentlemen, you have to forget that you are singers.” Here there is no sequence of arias, duets or quartets and the music is one of the elements – one of the participants – in the dialogue between the subconscious and the real world. “ in musical theatre too much is sung,” wrote Debussy, “there should be singing when it’s worth the effort and avoid accents of pathétique. There should be a difference in the power of expression. Sometimes one has to make use of semitones.”
Mezzo-soprano Elena Sommer will be performing the role of Geneviève, the mother of Princes Pelléas and Golaud. Like other roles in this Impressionist opera, it will require outstanding acting skills as well as a perfect vocals from the singer.
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