Écoute-là!

MUSIC COMPOSER REIKI | MASSAGE HOME FRANCIS
ST-GERMAIN

FRANCIS ST-GERMAIN

OPERA | SOPRANO, PERFORMERS & ELECTRONICS

Credits
Music & Sound design - Andro Manzoni & Francis St-Germain (Elektra)
Soprano - Songha Lee (Chrysothemis)
Piano - Carolina Santiago Martínez
Scenography - Marie Bonnemaison, Blandine Granier (Orest) & Léa Tilliet
Light - Mathilda Bouttau & Elie Martin
Costume - Marnie Langlois & Gabriella Lopez
Photo - Léa Tilliet
Mentor - Benjamin Lazare

Écoute-là! (2021) is an opera for soprano, two performers and electronics that reimagines Richard Strauss’ Elektra (1909) from the perspective of her sister, Chrysothemis.

Strauss’ original opera is known for its groundbreaking exploration of extremes—both musically and emotionally. As Hélène Pierrakos describes, the work "opens up a hitherto unknown lyrical space: taut thread for 2 hours in a single act, oversized orchestra and stretching in the extremes of the female voice to the point of ugliness, to represent hatred and resentment in music – and give yet in these waves their echo soothed, by the deep tenderness that will animate the role of Chrysothemis and that of Elektra herself, later, recognizing her brother Orestes who arises in the heart of the opera for their dead father."

This fresh reinterpretation draws inspiration from the poetic monologues of Yannis Ritsos, which explores Chrysothemis’ inner conflict as she is torn between her longing for a life beyond the confines of duty and the inexorable weight of familial and divine retribution. Chrysothemis is presented as a narrator who exists both within and outside the story—a participant in her family’s tragedy, yet forever distanced from its core.

The music and sound design, created by Francis St-Germain and Andro Manzoni, integrates live electronics with a spatial 12.2 sound system, actualizing the raw, emotional tension of the work by bridging elements of German Romanticism, ambient music, and glitchcore. Without searching to retell a story, Écoute-là! serves instead as a vehicle for critique and reflection on the universal themes explored in the original opera.

Écoute-là! premiered in 2021 as a collaboration between the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Techniques du Théâtre (ENSATT) and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse (CNSMD).

Duration: 30 minutes

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