11.05.2025

SABINE DEVIEILHE shines once again as Ophélia

Raphaël Pichon and his period instrument ensemble Pygmalion dedicate an entire evening to the character of Ophelia from Shakespeare's ‘Hamlet’, a victim of patriarchal oppression and toxic masculinity. In his ingenious programme, the Frenchman leaves nothing to chance, combining excerpts from Ambroise Thomas' romantic opera ‘Hamlet’ with Fauré's Requiem to create a ‘Requiem for Ophelia’. Baritone Stéphane Degout and soprano Sabine Devieilhe provide the vocal brilliance.

The dazzliug French soprano uses her voice unerringly in every register and appropriately for every mood. It is hard to believe how Sabine Devieilhe reduces her voice into nothingness during the scene where Ophélie turns insane, only to then raise it to a gradual crescendo of the most beautiful colours. Her ethereal, yet colourful and substantial coloratura soprano is perfect for these lyrical, typically French operatic characters. She can also draw on a wide range of emotion: from hyper-sensitive and vulnerable to a spiritual strength all of her own, from hallucinations to madness.

Ambroise Thomas: Scenes from ‘Hamlet’. Opera in five acts (1860-1864)
Hector Berlioz: Tristia. Marche funèbre pour la dernière scène d'Hamlet
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem

Sabine Devieilhe, soprano
Stéphane Degout, baritone
Pygmalion, choir and orchestra
Raphaël Pichon, conductor