David and Jonathan by Charpentier, M., Sun 28 Apr 2024, From (2024/2024), Directed by Jean Bellorini, Conductor Sébastien Daucé, Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Following his production of Erismena in 2019, theatre director Jean Bellorini returns to opera with a new staging of Baroque composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s tragedy David et Jonathas. Based on a story from the Old Testament, it tells the tale of the unconditional friendship between David and Jonathas, who are forced to fight on opposite sides, and the wrath of the tyrannical Saul, warring King of the Israelites who is also Jonathas’ father. Bellorini yet again blends theatre and opera in his retelling of this story about memory and tells it from Saul’s point of view. Having gone mad following the death of his son, the fallen contemporary tyrant is now mute and has stopped defending himself, thus becoming a monster of our times. In nightmarish scenes, Bellorini presents a colourful carnival of the dead. He is inspired, however, by David’s constant search for peace and reconciliation and the hope for the future that a younger generation represents. Musical director Sébastien Daucé conducts his Ensemble Correspondances, specialists in the sacred French repertoire of the Grand Siècle.