Forum Opéra - Fabrice Malkani

Elsa Dreisig, who was eagerly awaited for the role of Louise, which was applauded at the Aix Festival last summer, was unwell during the Lyon premiere. Soprano Gabrielle Philiponet stepped in at the last minute, quite literally, as her character seemed constantly on the verge of leaving: her agility on stage, in a physically demanding production, was remarkable, as was her poignant dramatic performance. Giving the role all the humanity intended by Gustave Charpentier, its naive fragility, but also the impetuosity of its love and the assertion of its will to freedom, she forms with Adam Smith's robust and dashing Julien a couple that is both paradoxical and complementary – he, extroverted, certain of their future happiness,[…] ; she, with her singing full of subtle, delicate inflections, initially timid and petite, cowering on a bench or throwing herself into his arms. A convincing couple also through the interplay of reciprocity and through Louise's evolution throughout the opera, in her role as a lover who reverses the conventional order of desire following her great aria "Depuis le jour," a test perfectly met to cross the threshold of Act III.