Director Richard Brunel’s three-hour long version of Dialogues des Carmélites by Poulenc is fascinating.
Kleine Zeitung, Willi Rainer
Musical events are echoed in the décor when interpersonal tensions and emotional conflicts dissolve. Brunel breathes energy into a rather static plot with unassuming choreographic elements and gestures. A great opera: the audience burst into thunderous applause.
Kleine Zeitung, Willi Rainer
Musical theatre at its finest! The director’s bravery paid off: a successful production and an appreciative audience! Full house!
Deropernfreund.de, Hermann Becke
The interpretation of Alexander Soddy, who conducts the Carinthian Symphony Orchestra, and that of Richard Brunel, the director, is phenomenal. This exceptional production shows that politics must once and for all refrain from interfering with faith.
Kronen Zeitung, Michael Cerha
The production’s concept is brilliant and convincing.
Deropernfreund.de, Hermann Becke
Finally, a show which refuses banal temporal appropriation relying on caricatured Church robes, Nazi uniforms and Jihadi soldiers, choosing instead to lean on group phenomena and violence. Unobtrusively underpinning the play, these choices are particularly moving.
Deropernfreund.de, Hermann Becke
The actors are skilfully directed and each character is portrayed with precision without resorting to hackneyed opera movements. The awe-inspiring execution of the nuns is perfectly synchronised with the final music composed by Poulenc. (…) This scenographic perfection also results from the Klagenfurt opera house’s ability to create the best ensemble possible. (…) The five solos, and all the other interpretations, were adequately and coherently performed. (…) This evening at the opera, which lasted for three hours, moved the captivated audience from start to finish. It had been a while since we’d heard and experienced such an exciting opera.
Deropernfreund.de, Hermann Becke
The staging is meticulous and soberly shows the everyday life of the nuns in the unwritten hierarchy of individual strengths and weaknesses that the rules of the Order set up. Key existential scenes, sketched in a naturalistic style, interrupt these Carmelite nuns’ conversations (their “dialogues”) – which are animated with powerful voices that make their mark. Such glee!
Kronen Zeitung
With dedication, Richard Brunel ponders the depth of the psychological facets of the characters of the nuns which are therefore subtly sketched.
Karl Harb, Salzburger Nachrichten
Dialogues des Carmélites
Francis Poulenc
Based on a novel by Georges Bernanos, adapted with the approval of Emmet Lavery, based on a short story by Gertrude Von Le Fort and a script by R. P. Brückberger and Philippe Agostini
Music director Alexander Soddy
Director Richard Brunel
Artistic director Catherine Ailloud-Nicolas
Set designer Anouk Dell’Aiera
Costume designer Axel Aust
Lighting designer Laurent Castaingt
Assistant director Sophie Springer
Produced by the Stadttheater Klagenfurt
Cast
Kristian Paul,
Ilker Arcayürek,
Laura Tatulescu,
Marianne Eklof,
Heidi Brunner,
Betsy Horne,
Eibe Möhlmann,
Markus Franck,
Thomas Tischler
Chorus by Stadttheaters Klagenfurt and Kärntner Sinfonieorchester