Dialogues des Carmélites - Premiere - Schedule, Program & Tickets
Dialogues des Carmélites - Premiere
Opera in three acts
Libretto by the composer based on the play by Georges Bernanos. Adapted for the opera with the permission of Emmet Lavery. Based on the novella "The Last One on the Scaffold" by Gertrude von Le Fort and a screenplay by Fr. Raymond Bruckberger and Philippe Agostini.
Sung in French with German and English surtitles
Premiere
January 31, 2026
In the midst of the French Revolution, a group of nuns fights for their self-determination, their faith, and against the fear of death.
What do you live for? What would you be willing to die for? Do you have the strength to stand up for your beliefs at the decisive moment? Based on the true story of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, who were executed on July 17, 1794, Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) created a haunting work about fear, faith, self-overcoming, and death in his opera, which premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1957.
Paris, 1789: Blanche de la Force, whose mother died in childbirth during the turmoil of the French Revolution, suffers from anxiety and seeks refuge and support in a convent of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne. She asks the elderly, seriously ill prioress, Madame de Croissy, to admit her to the novitiate as "Blanche of the Agony." But the convent walls offer no protection from the horrors of the French Revolution: Blanche manages to escape before her sisters are arrested by the Revolutionary Guards and sentenced to death. But at the hour of execution, she suddenly returns...
With a variety of timbres and sophisticated orchestration, Poulenc succeeds in conveying the characters' individual traits and strong emotions – right up to the famous "Salve Regina" of the Carmelite nuns on the scaffold, which is undoubtedly one of the most moving moments in operatic literature. "What one experiences here is as shocking and existential as musical theater can be," writes the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper about Jetske Mijnssen's production, which premiered successfully at the Zurich Opera House on February 13, 2022.
Subject to change.
Libretto by the composer based on the play by Georges Bernanos. Adapted for the opera with the permission of Emmet Lavery. Based on the novella "The Last One on the Scaffold" by Gertrude von Le Fort and a screenplay by Fr. Raymond Bruckberger and Philippe Agostini.
Sung in French with German and English surtitles
Premiere
January 31, 2026
In the midst of the French Revolution, a group of nuns fights for their self-determination, their faith, and against the fear of death.
What do you live for? What would you be willing to die for? Do you have the strength to stand up for your beliefs at the decisive moment? Based on the true story of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, who were executed on July 17, 1794, Francis Poulenc (1899–1963) created a haunting work about fear, faith, self-overcoming, and death in his opera, which premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1957.
Paris, 1789: Blanche de la Force, whose mother died in childbirth during the turmoil of the French Revolution, suffers from anxiety and seeks refuge and support in a convent of the Carmelite nuns of Compiègne. She asks the elderly, seriously ill prioress, Madame de Croissy, to admit her to the novitiate as "Blanche of the Agony." But the convent walls offer no protection from the horrors of the French Revolution: Blanche manages to escape before her sisters are arrested by the Revolutionary Guards and sentenced to death. But at the hour of execution, she suddenly returns...
With a variety of timbres and sophisticated orchestration, Poulenc succeeds in conveying the characters' individual traits and strong emotions – right up to the famous "Salve Regina" of the Carmelite nuns on the scaffold, which is undoubtedly one of the most moving moments in operatic literature. "What one experiences here is as shocking and existential as musical theater can be," writes the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper about Jetske Mijnssen's production, which premiered successfully at the Zurich Opera House on February 13, 2022.
Subject to change.