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IN GUILTY NIGHT
Henry Purcell & Uèle Lamore
Pavillon Sicli, GENEVA
Performances on 21, 22 and 23 August 2026
Direction artistique : Luc Birraux
Direction musicale : Jonas Descotte
Ensemble : Les Argonautes
8.30 pm
Estimated running time : 1h15
The 2026 edition lays the first stone of a new vision.
For these three inaugural evenings, Luc Birraux conceives an installative opera, a hybrid form between lyric concert and music theatre. At its heart, Purcell's micro-oratorio Saul and the Witch of Endor (c. 1692): Saul, having himself banished seers and necromancers, now finds himself confronted with the silence of God. He thus transgresses the very laws he once decreed and turns to those he had cast out. It is the story of a man grappling with silence and, more profoundly, with humanity’s irrepressible longing for transcendence.
As a counterpoint, an original electronic work has been commissioned from Uèle Lamore. The Les Argonautes ensemble, under the direction of Jonas Descotte, performs on period instruments. A speaking choir constituted of adults supported by the EPI completes the cast — reclaiming the original function of the Greek chorus: the collective voice that carries what the protagonists cannot express alone.
THE ARTISTIC TEAM
Art direction, text & staging: Luc Birraux
Music: Uèle Lamore · Henry Purcell
Musical direction: Jonas Descotte
Soprano: Mariamielle Lamagat
Tenor: Joël Terrin
Bass-baritone: William Socolof
Cast: Michaël Comte · Kelly Chevaucherie · Amadou Lamara Bah · Xavier Filgueira · Jean Pesson · Samuel Jean Triverio · Eva .V. · Yousef Zid
Lighting & installation: Julien Brun
Costumes: Benjamin Broillet
Sound: Jean Keraudren
Accessories: Greg Wattebled
Stage technician: Pierre-Étienne Birraux
Les Argonautes
Cello: Emma Vignier
Viola da gamba: Andrés García Fraile
Harpsichord: Baptiste Zeronian
Theorbo: Dana Howe
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