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

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

1992-01-01 - 82 minutes

0.00 / 10

Overview

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.

Screenplay

Producer - Manfred Frei

Genres

Music

Documentary

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Cast

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen

Self - Conductor

Dawn Upshaw

Dawn Upshaw

Self - Soprano

José van Dam

José van Dam

Self - Bass-Baritone

Urban Malmberg

Urban Malmberg

Self - Baritone

John Aler

John Aler

Self - Tenor

Tom Krause

Tom Krause

Self - Baritone

Ronald Hamilton

Ronald Hamilton

Self - Tenor

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