Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
The Girl from Arles
- When
- 9–10 Oct
- Where
- London
The programme
BIZET L’Arlésienne
A staged performance with Bizet’s complete incidental music and a new translation of Daudet’s original play by Jeremy Sams.
The evening
Cast to be announced Choir of the Age of Enlightenment Sir Mark Elder conductor Jeremy Sams director
Unrequited love and melodrama collide to make L’Arlésienne a must watch season opener. Propelled by Bizet’s intensely passionate music, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, with all the on stage action in a new translation by Jeremy Sams.
Bizet’s music achieves his trademark colour by weaving in traditional Provençal tunes. Its evocative soundworld paved the way for Bizet’s last and greatest work, the opera Carmen. Although best known through the concert suites for full orchestra, this performance will restore the composer’s original orchestration, with the 26 musicians becoming as much a part of the drama as the actors on stage. Bizet’s score demonstrates his flare for colourful orchestration, imitating local instruments such as the tambourin and galoubet, and includes one of the earliest appearances of the recently invented saxophone in an orchestra.