English musician George Benjamin returns

During the epidemic, George Benjamin and his librettist friend Martin Crimp met in Richmond Park, London. “We walked and talked for long hours around our new common plan, Reminds me of the composer. A wonderful spring inspired us even in a miserable environment. At the end of 2020, Martin’s speech came…”

The chamber opera required three years of music writing. “The intimacy of the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume allows the public to see the singers’ eyes, the slightest expression on their faces”. In the pit, about twenty instrumentalists from the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, “Honey (my) Heart for its elegance and sound freshness » And, on stage, five solos chosen by George Benjamin: “I wrote precisely for their voices, and then we worked together on diction and colors. »

Truth outside of truth

A student of Olivier Messiaen, author of vocal and instrumental work performed around the world, the 1960-born composer is soft, precise and gracious in speech, and he doesn’t mince words. On the pediment of his lyric pantheon we read the names of Berlioz and Wagner and Debussy and Berg. “And, of course, The Saint Francis of Assisi By Messiaen, though, unlike him, I did not write for the choir… no doubt because of the commitment to the consistent insight of the text”, He smiles and advances.

Such is the picture of a day It centers on the day a woman is hit by the death of her child. A tragedy she could avoid if only she could meet a person who embodied true happiness. “Martin Grimm’s short books inspire me with their humanity and dreamlike dimension. I find it difficult to make music in everyday life. I try to speak the truth but I speak beyond the ordinary truth”. Trust the One “I’ve been looking for a literary collaborator for twenty years” Before finding his partner…

Back to the tool universe

He is as faithful to her as he is renewed “in happiness” With director Daniel Geneteau, he is associated with Marie-Christine Somma, who he worked with here. Into the little hillThe opera premiered at the 2006 Festival d’Automne in Paris.

After writing a lyric, the musician feels the need to change the universe, the instrument must return to the universe. “But I love the human voice, its secrets, its strengths and weaknesses so much that I know it will push me back in a while. »