Organization

Singer

Soprano

Paula Murrihy

Concepcion

Tenor

Frédéric Antoun

Gonzalve

Spencer Lang

Torquemada

Baritone

Andrei Bondarenko

Ramiro

Bass

Michael Hauenstein

Don Inigo Gomez

Conductor

Pavel Baleff

Stage director

Jan Eßinger

Set designer

Sonja Füsti

Costume designer

Jeannette Seiler

Lighting designer

Hans-Rudolf Kunz

Chorus master

Ernst Raffelsberger

Dramaturge

Kathrin Brunner

Mezzo-soprano

Deniz Uzun

The child

Contralto

The mother

Hamida Kristoffersen

The shepherdess Louis XV

The owl

The bat

A shepherdess

Sen Guo

The fire

The princess

A nightingale

Irène Friedli

The Chinese teacup

The dragonfly

Gemma Ní Bhriain

The female cat

A shepherd

Dmytro Kalmuchyn

The Grandfather clock

The male cat

François Piolino

The little old man

The tree frog

The teapot

Ildo Song

The armchair

The tree

Opernhaus Zürich

Orchestra

Musikkollegium Winterthur

Others

SoprAlti der Oper Zurich

Zusatzchor der Oper Zürich

French

L'Heure espagnole -  (The Spanish Hour)

Zurich

Switzerland

Opernhaus

L'Heure espagnole Ravel (+1 More)

Public

The Spanish Hour

The Child and the Spells

Approved

Zwei Kurzopern von Maurice RavelMusikalische Leitung Pavel BaleffInszenierung Jan EßingerWeitere Informationen: bit.ly/OHZRavel

Regisseur Jan Eßinger spricht in diesem Video über seine Inszenierung des Ravel-Doppelabends «L'Heure espagnole / L'Enfant et les sortilèges» am Opernhaus Zürich.
Wir zeigen die zwei Kurzopern von Maurice Ravel, die ihre Premiere im vergangenen Jahr in Winterthur hatten, in einer neuen, attraktiven Besetzung in Zürich: unter anderem mit der irischen Mezzosopranistin Paula Murrihy als Conception, dem kanadischen Tenor Frédéric Antoun als Gonzalve und unserem Ensemblemitglied Deniz Uzun als Enfant. Vorstellungen am 19, 21, 26, 28 Jan; 1 Feb 2018:
https://www.opernhaus.ch/ravel

L'Heure espagnole / L'Enfant et les sortilèges
We are showing the double evening with two short operas by Maurice Ravel, which had its premiere last year in Winterthur, in a new, attractive line-up in Zurich: among others, with the Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as Conception, the Canadian tenor Frédéric Antoun as Gonzalve and our Ensemble member Deniz Uzun as enfant.

Maurice Ravel's penchant for music boxes, jukeboxes and unusual clocks is well known - and it was also reflected in his first one-act opera, the Comédie musicale L'Heure espagnole . Ravel's musical wealth of ideas is stunning, for example when he makes audible a whole mechanical arsenal from a watchmaker's shop in the overture. But this shop becomes a completely different playground: Here, after her husband is out, the extravagant conception receives one lover after the other. The salacious ambiguity of score and plot appalled the music critics of the time, who spoke contemptuously of "musical pornography". The opera quickly disappeared from the repertoire, but today it is undoubtedly one of the most attractive short operas.

Ravel's second opera, L'Enfant et les sortilèges based on a libretto by the poet Colette, was a success from the start. Here, too, Ravel writes a colorful and extremely original score. The story is about a child who is punished for not doing his homework. Out of anger, it begins to destroy things that later nightmarishly turn against the child. Gradually, however, they learn what empathy means and begin to take responsibility for their actions.

Deutsch

English

The Spanish Hour by Ravel, The Child and the Spells by Ravel, From (2018/2018), Directed by Jan Eßinger,, Conductor Pavel Baleff, Opernhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues