Abandonment is one of the great human sorrows. Poulenc’s opera La Voix humaine describes just such a farewell, with the lead role performed by the Gothenburg Symphony’s Principal Guest Conductor Barbara Hannigan. She sings, conducts and acts. It is beautiful, painful and intimate.
With La voix humaine, Barbara Hannigan has created one of the most groundbreaking musical theatre works of our time. In this unique project, she leads the orchestra and the drama through live cameras on stage – and breaks away from the traditional boundaries between conductor, singer and actor in real time.
La voix humaine has become a milestone for the 2000s and is internationally acclaimed. Leading institutions continue to offer the production for new performances – a rare distinction for a contemporary opera.
Now Hannigan brings La voix humaine back to Gothenburg for a unique visit, confirming the central role of the Gothenburg Symphony in the project. The collaboration also results in a performance at the Oslo Opera House.
The return celebrates an ongoing artistic journey and a work that continues to resonate, evolve and challenge conventions – led by an artist who has fundamentally reshaped the actual performance language.
“I find myself asking if there even is an ex-lover? What and who really exists within these deep and true emotions of love, loss and loneliness?” Barbara Hannigan
The concert begins with Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen, giving voice to 23 individual string instruments. The piece from 1945 is a memorial to human culture devastated by war. All that can save us now is divine intervention.
