Trailer
Letter to Peter, on Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen
0.0
|
1h 22m
|
1992
Overview
In 1992, Olivier Messiaen's epic opera "Saint François d'Assise" was brought to the Salzburg Festival in a staging by Peter Sellars. The distinct visual appearance that Sellars lent to the opera, where video monitors with powerful images are used as a sort of high-tech metaphor for a cathedral's stained glass, drew critical acclaim and is still talked about as a watershed moment in opera to this day. This film here is a 75-minute documentary on the 1992 staging. Jean-Pierre Gorin filmed Sellars, baritone José van Dam (St. Francis) soprano Dawn Upshaw (The Angel), and the LA Philharmonic and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as they rehearsed for the big day. There are interviews with these artists, though Sellars gets most of the screen time. The documentary is very much about Sellars' vision for Messiaen's theatrical drama. Very little is said about Messiaen's music.
Cast
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Self - Conductor
Dawn Upshaw
Self - Soprano
José van Dam
Self - Bass-Baritone
Urban Malmberg
Self - Baritone
John Aler
Self - Tenor
Tom Krause
Self - Baritone
Ronald Hamilton
Self - Tenor
Recommendations
No recommendations for this movie :(