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Letter to Peter, on Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen

01/01/1992

|

1hr 22min

|

Music

,Documentary

STORY

In 1992, Olivier Messiaen's epic opera "Saint François d'Assise" was brought to the Salzburg Festival in a staging by Peter Sellars. The distinct visual appearance that Sellars lent to the opera, where video monitors with powerful images are used as a sort of high-tech metaphor for a cathedral's stained glass, drew critical acclaim and is still talked about as a watershed moment in opera to this day. This film here is a 75-minute documentary on the 1992 staging. Jean-Pierre Gorin filmed Sellars, baritone José van Dam (St. Francis) soprano Dawn Upshaw (The Angel), and the LA Philharmonic and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as they rehearsed for the big day. There are interviews with these artists, though Sellars gets most of the screen time. The documentary is very much about Sellars' vision for Messiaen's theatrical drama. Very little is said about Messiaen's music.

CAST & CREW

    Cast

  • Esa-Pekka Salonen
  • Dawn Upshaw
  • José van Dam
  • Urban Malmberg
  • John Aler

    Directors

  • Brooks Riley
  • Jean-Pierre Gorin
  • Peter Sellars

INFORMATION

    Production Companies

    Production Countries

LANGUAGES

    Cast

    Esa-Pekka Salonen

    Self - Conductor

    Dawn Upshaw

    Self - Soprano

    José van Dam

    Self - Bass-Baritone

    Urban Malmberg

    Self - Baritone

    John Aler

    Self - Tenor

    Tom Krause

    Self - Baritone

    Ronald Hamilton

    Self - Tenor