13 October 2023
Eve & Adam, world premiere at the Philharmonie de Paris
A composition by Bruno Fontaine with a libretto by Florence Seyvos. Co-commissioned by the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France, the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn and the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence.
2023 kicks off with the world premiere, at the Philharmonie de Paris, of Eve & Adam, with the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France conducted by Georg Köhler.
It’s been four years since this project began, a compelling desire to return to the origins of the imbalance between men and women in the world, a desire to restore the healthy, joyful question to its rightful place in music. And if Adam’s rib, “Tzela”, actually meant the “side”…
Two orchestras with whom I’ve already had the pleasure of working are associated with the creation: we’ll be with the Orchestre National d’Avignon-Provence in November 2023, and with the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn in December 2023.
Eve and Adam
To deal with “three thousand years of misunderstanding between man and woman”, this lyrical tale chooses the tone of humor in song.
World Première
But just what misunderstanding are we talking about? Well, the one in Genesis (1, v. 27), where the most common translation is that God created woman from a rib (tzela) of the man; while some specialists defend the idea that tzela can be translated as “side”, which would mean that woman was created “alongside” the man, without being a direct emanation of him…
“It was this shimmering of meanings that made us dream; that gave us the desire to shake, like an old carpet, the frozen image of our great-great-great-grandparents; the desire to imagine a new dialogue between Eve, Adam and their Creator”, using all forms of music (solos, duets, sung, chanted, whispered, declaimed words, vocalizations and counter-vocalizations…) to have fun with this essential questioning.
Direction Georg Köhler
Vocals Isabelle Georges
Vocals Frederik Steenbrink
Book Florence Seyvos
Composition Bruno Fontaine
Staging Mirabelle Ordinaire
Video Laurent Sarazin
Costume design Colombe Lauriot
World premiere co-commissioned by the Orchestre National Avignon-Provence, the Orchestre de Pau Pays de Béarn and the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France.
Book by Florence Seyvos after La Genèse de la Genèse illustrée par l’abstraction by Marc-Alain Ouaknin, 2019 © Éditions Diane de Selliers.
This program is supported by the Fond de Création Lyrique.
Orchestre National d’Île de France Ève et Adam
Philharmonie de Paris Ève et Adam