Metropolitan Opera - Pelleas et Melisande

Debussy's Only Opera Returns To The Met

Experience the sensuous vocal lines and soul-stirring orchestral writing of Debussy's Pelleas et Melisande when it returns to the Met Opera House after a 10 year absence, starring tenor Paul Appleby and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the titular doomed lovers.

Many a lover of classical music will know and love Debussy's lilting melodies and lush orchestral arrangements, yet this opera, his only work in the genre, may have passed them by. Perhaps this is due to the atypical nature of the piece that sets it apart from traditional operas - Debussy was never one to play by the rules. Rather than obvious professions of emotions, his characters don't wear their operatic hearts on their sleeves, marking the production as a brilliantly-crafted exercise in harmonic nuance and subtlety. A true diamond in the rough!

Performed in French, the story is set in the mythical realm of Allemonde, a medieval kingdom that's ruled by King Golaud. When the young man discovers a weeping girl in the forest, he is immediately smitten, marrying her six months later despite not knowing anything about her origins. Melisande's beauty also ensnares Golaud's right hand man Pelleas and a dramatic love triangle ensues...