Opera To Be Sung – Pascal Dusapin, Pharrell Williams

Elise Chauvin, Jenny Daviet, Norma Nahoun, sopranos
Florence Darel, narrator

Movement collaborator, Suzanne Meyer
Sound and spatialisation, Florent Derex

Performances introduced on both evenings by a dialogue between Pascal Dusapin and Antoine Gindt on the work, its genesis and its history.

In Pascal Dusapin’s chamber opera To Be Sung, the composer forsakes all dramaturgy and action to instead nurture “prose of pure imagination” vocalised by three sopranos alongside a narrator, the voices heightened by instrumental textures and an electroacoustic component.

“Of the ten operas that Pascal Dusapin has composed, the most singular is undoubtedly To Be Sung. Its chamber-music framework and libretto borrowed from American author Gertrude Stein render the work and its genesis unique, haunting and cyclical. Created in 1994, this third opera replaces the idea of ​​a stage with performance plasticity. Here, there are no roles, no protagonists pursuing a plot that could be described or summarised. In the abstract space of the “Large and lofty room”—the first four words spoken—three voices move, intertwining and separating, unifying and diverging, emphasising individuality or similarities. To Be Sung is opera as a high-wire act, virtuosity with neither beginning nor end. It is a lyrical moment of pure sensuality that engrosses the listener’s imagination and demands their complete surrender.”

Antoine Gindt, November 2025