Pathos

En juillet 1923, Franz Kafka séjourne avec sa soeur à Müritz, petite station balnéaire de la Baltique. C'est là qu'il rencontre Dora Diamant. Il vient d'avoir quarante ans et il est gravement malade ; elle en a vingt-cinq, et elle est la vie même. Elle sera son dernier amour, probablement le plus accompli, certainement le plus poignant. …

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a chamber opera based on Oliver Sacks's book of the same name. A true story, it takes the form of a neurological case-study; Dr P, a professional singer, suffers from visual agnosia—an inability to recognize or make sense of what he sees—and the opera describes in simple, unpretentious dialogue two consultation sessions during which the other two characters, the neurologist (Dr S) and the patient's wife (Mrs P), by way of a sequence of tests and conversations, gradually penetrate the mystery of the symptoms.

With Joyce DiDonato as Cinderella capturing all hearts – not just Prince Charming’s – Massenet’s enchanting, sophisticated retelling of the classic fairytale makes its debut at Covent Garden in a charming and witty production by Laurent Pelly. The Cinderella story seen through the eyes of the belle époque, Massenet’s Cendrillon was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1899 and its gorgeous score embraces pathos, pastiche, broad humour, subtle eroticism and sheer magic.In Summer 2011, its debut at London's Royal Opera House was built around mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who first took on the title role at the Santa Fe festival in 2006.