15.01.2023

SABINE DEVIEILHE celebrates her Metropolitan Opera debut

Sabine Devieilhe, most recently acclaimed as a fantastic Lakmé at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in January 2023 as Soeur Constance in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites – one of the most moving operas of the 20th century. The final scene is absolutely unforgettable, with the “Salve Regina” growing thinner and thinner as the guillotine inexorably keeps dropping … In 1794, the Jacobins executed 16 nuns in Paris because they refused to renounce their vows. Francis Poulenc staged this as a gripping psychological chamber piece. At the Met, Bertrand de Billy conducts the revival of John Dexter’s production.

There may be no living singer who could offer a better performance of Soeur Constance than Sabine Devieilhe. The radiant warmth of her voice, her almost child-like naiveté and thoroughly credible dignity render her portrayal utterly convincing.
 

Francis Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites

Ailyn Pérez, Blanche de la Force
Christine Goerke, Madame Lidoine
Sabine Devieilhe, Soeur Constance
Jamie Barton, Mère Marie
Alice Coote, Madame de Croissy
Piotr Buszewski, Chevalier de la Force
Laurent Naouri, Marquis de la Force

Bertrand de Billy, conductor
John Dexter, stage director
David Reppa, stage
Jane Greenwood, costumes
Gil Wechsler, light