Satyagraha: Opera National de Paris
About the Event
What is Gandhi’s influence on the contemporary political world? This is the question explored by Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha (1980), the second in his trilogy devoted to historical figures, alongside Einstein on the Beach (1976) and Akhnaten (1984). But Satyagraha – Sanskrit for “truth force” – is not a biopic.
This work, with its mesmerising music, interweaves timelines, relating each of its three acts to a key figure linked to Gandhi in order to better understand the genesis of his political thought: Leo Tolstoy, with whom he corresponded the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who supported him and Martin Luther King, who was inspired by his principles of non‐violence.
Satyagraha is entering the Paris Opera repertoire directed by Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber, who have already created the dance piece Pit. For them, this opera “is not simply a meditation on history, but a call to action and a forceful lesson that rings ever more true today.”
Cast / Production
Creative team
Philip Glass
Music (1937)
Constance De Jong
Libretto
Ingo Metzmacher
Conductor
Bobbi Jene Smith
Direction and choreography
Or Schraiber
Direction and choreography
Christian Friedländer
Set design
Wojciech Dziedzic
Costume design
John Torres
Lighting design
Jacob Mallinson Bird
Dramaturgy
Ching‐Lien Wu
Chorus master
Cast
Anthony Roth Costanzo
Countertenor
Ilanah Lobel‐Torres
Soprano
Davóne Tines
Baritone
Adriana Bignagni Lesca
Alto
Olivia Boen
Soprano
Deepa Johnny
Mezzo‐soprano
Amin Ahangaran
Baritone
Nicky Spence
Tenor
Nicolas Cavallier
Bass
