"Dialogues des Carmelites"
Hopkins Center Presents the Metropolitan Opera "Live in HD"
One of the most successful operas of the later decades of the 20th century, Poulenc’s devastating story of faith and martyrdom is a rare case of a modern work that is equally esteemed by audiences and experts. The score reflects key aspects of its composer’s personality: Poulenc was an urbane Parisian with a profound mystical dimension, and the opera addresses both the characters’ internal lives and their external realities.
The opera focuses on a young member of an order of Carmelite nuns, the aristocratic Blanche de la Force (sung by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard), who must overcome a pathological timidity in order to answer her life’s calling. Karita Mattila, a legend in her own time, returns to the Met as the Prioress, and New Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Runtime: 3h9m