Organization

Boston Early Music Festival

Singer

Soprano

Carolyn Sampson

Psyché

Karina Gauvin

Venus

Silent

Aaron Sheehan

Amour

Colin Balzer

Mercure

Olivier Laquerre

Mars

Bass

Matthew Shaw

Jupiter

Conductor

Paul O'Dette

Stephen Stubbs

Stage director

Gilbert Blin

Set designer

Caleb Wertenbaker

Costume designer

Anna Watkins

Lighting designer

Lenore Doxsee

Choreographer

Lucy Graham

Orchestra

Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra

Others

PALS Children's Chorus

French

Psyché -  (Psyche)

Great Barrington

United States

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

Boston

Cutler Majestic Theatre

Public

Psyche

English

Approved

Returning to the lavish world of Louis XIV’s Versailles—home of the memorable 2001 Boston Early Music Festival production of Lully’s Thésée—Psyché was originally composed as a tragi-comédie et ballet in 1671 and represented the final product of the famous and successful partnership between Lully and Molière. In 1678 it was transformed into a magnificent tragédie lyrique which Lully created with the librettist Thomas Corneille, and it became on of Lully’s most beloved operas. With performances mounted throughout Europe will into the 18th century, an enormous number of musical manuscripts now survive for this one work. The variety of sources, coupled with the opera’s unusually versatile cast of singers, dancers, instrumentalists, and numerous stage machines have made modern stagings of Psyché nearly impossible—until now.

The challenges Psyché presents offer the Boston Early Music Festival a perfect opportunity to display the many strengths we have developed over the past decade: an all-star, GRAMMY-nominated Baroque orchestra; a cast of leading international opera stars; a colorful troupe of Baroque dancers and commedia artists bringing elegance, humor, and theatricality to the stage; awe-inspiring sets, stage machinery, and costumes based on historical models; historically-informed staging with ebullient choreography; and a children’s troupe of gifted singers and dancers, all coming together for another stunning spectacle for the eye and ear.

Lully’s inspired opera recounts Psyché’s mythic saga of power and passion through beautiful melodies and compelling drama. As the most beautiful woman in the world, Psyché is treated by her fellow mortals as a new goddess. This angers the divine Vénus, who enlists the aid of her son Amour to wreak a terrible revenge of Psyché. But he falls hopelessly in love with Psyché and after many heart-wrenching adventures, the couple is finally united in a grand wedding celebration attended by a throng of deities singing, dancing, and merry-making—a true “Feast of the Gods.”
Image

Psyche by Lully, From (2007/2007), Directed by Gilbert Blin,, Conductor Paul O'Dette, Stephen Stubbs, Cutler Majestic Theatre, Boston, United States

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues