Conductor Ludovic Morlot makes his debut at the Dallas Opera this evening, leading a star-studded cast in Debussy’s romantic tragedy Pelléas et Mélisande. 

Debussy’s only completed opera, Pelléas et Mélisande aims to “express that which nothing but music can express”. The theme of human fallibility runs through the story, in which the mysterious Mélisande marries Prince Golaud, but falls in love with his brother, Pelléas, instead. Golaud’s jealousy ends up leading to both the lovers’ deaths. Musically, the opera breaks all the conventions of the artform, and the composer even exhorted the singers at the premiere performance to ‘please forget that you are a singer’, instead emphasizing the importance of their acting. This production is a revival of original direction by Jetske Mijnssen. Her work focuses on the psychological penetration of the characters, based on an intensive study of the music. 

Morlot leads a cast including Edward Nelson as Pelléas, Lauren Snouffer as Mélisande, Nicolas Courjal as Golaud, and Sir Willard White as Arkel. Morlot is in demand as an opera conductor, and returns to Seattle Opera for part two of Berlioz Les Troyens in January, after his productions there over the past three seasons of Samson et Dalila, Die Walküre and Das Rheingold.