Midsummer Opera Date with Debussy - “Pelléas et Mélisande”

In Nicole Kidman’s “Chanel No.5 perfume” commercial, Claude Debussy’s piano piece “Clair de Lune” delicately accentuates mystery, romance and elegance of the legendary short film.

For over a century, the French composer has captivated the world with emotion-evoking piano works and orchestral masterpieces, such as “Rêverie”, “Arabesque”, "La Mer" and "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune".

But do you know he also completed one beautiful opera in his lifetime?

Set in the imaginary, quasi-medieval kingdom of Allemonde, Pelléas and Mélisande is a Symbolist play written by Nobel Prize-winning Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck about the forbidden, doomed love triangle of Pelléas, Mélisande and Pelléas’ half-brother, Prince Golaud. The French libretto was adopted and developed into an opera in 5 acts by Debussy and premiered in Paris in Protected content .

This will be the very first complete "Pelléas et Mélisande" ever performed in Taiwan. Also, there will be one show only in Taipei.

You don’t want to miss this unprecedented opportunity, do you?

Jun Märkl, conductor
Jean-Michel Criqui, director
Barbara Kozelj, Mélisande
Theo Hoffman, Pelléas
Julian Lo, Arkel
Ting-Yu- Fan, Genevieve
Chueh-Yu Lai, Yniold

*Running time: Approximately 3+ hours with intermission
*Language: French with English subtitles
*Set design: Semi-staged
*Tickets: Protected content
Protected content off for NTCH members)

*Photo credit: Getty Images