CANCELLED: THE DEVILS OF LOUDUN

The name Simon Stone, an insider's tip five years ago, has become a trademark in the world of musical theater. The director, who was born in Basel and grew up in England and Australia, has quickly gained a reputation for his detailed, realistic operas, which are consistently translated into modern visual and living worlds. While still in school, he founded his own theater academy, with which he adapted dramas by Chekhov and Ibsen and developed his concept of "overwriting" old stories in a modern-day setting. Since 2012, the international theater world has taken notice of his work with invitations to festivals, and in 2015 he made his first feature film, followed by the second, The Dig, in 2021.  Simon Stone's signature is unmistakable, whether he is working with Ralph Myers as set designer (as in Dead City, his first opera work, shown in Basel in 2016 and Munich in 2019) or, as in Devils of Loudun, with Bob Cousins (stage) and Mel Page (costumes) - the latter two are longtime partners in a collaborative effort that dates back to student productions in Australia and extends to acclaimed premieres at the Salzburg Festival (Lear, Médée). The musical direction of the Munich premiere of Penderecki's first opera is in the hands of GMD Vladimir Jurowski, who has already championed the work once - at the Dresden Music Festival almost exactly 20 years before the Munich premiere: the best conditions, therefore, for the teamwork around the Devils of Loudun.

A nun’s sinful fantasies, a priest’s bawdy excesses, bigoted petty bourgeois envy and jealousy – and above all, the political master plan of an ambitious clergyman. From such a melange emerged an exorcism excess in a provincial French town in the early 17th century. The simulated exorcism of the allegedly possessed Ursuline nun, Jeanne, became a means for Cardinal Richelieu to silence undesirable forces such as the openly spiritual Grandier on the scaffold, and thus generate a climate of fear, in which none would ever dare oppose him. Aldous Huxley powerfully illustrated these events in a historical novel in 1952, and from a dramatization of the book, Krzysztof Penderecki created a unique opera in 1969: The Devils of Loudun. Into it he introduces a wealth of voices and instruments, sounds and noises, which he combines entirely with the scenic elements. Like waves, the 34 short scenes wash over the audience, and very quickly it’s gasping for breath. The piece is one of the 20th century’s most vivid, has remained disconcertingly topical, and now comes to Munich for the first time as a premiere to open the 2022 Opera Festival on the stage of the Nationaltheater.

Aldous Huxley powerfully depicted these events in a historical novel in 1952, and Krzysztof Penderecki created an unparalleled opera from a dramatization of this book in 1969: The Devils of Loudun. In this opera, Penderecki brings out an enormous wealth of voices and instruments, sounds and noises, which he combines entirely to suit the scenic needs. The 30 short scenes wash over the audience like waves, and after a short time one is already gasping for breath. This work is one of the most haunting of the 20th century, has remained dismayingly topical, and is now coming to the stage of the National Theater, for the first time in Munich, as a premiere for the opening of the 2022 Opera Festival.