Marina Abramović

7 Deaths of Maria Callas

Archive 2021
Palais Garnier
septembersept 1 – 4

Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra national de Paris
Conductor, Yoel Gamzou
Stage direction, Set design, Marina Abramović
Joint stage direction, Lynsey Peisinger
Collaboration on set design, Anna Schöttl
Film direction, Nabil Elderkin
Video intermezzos, Marco Brambilla
Costumes, Riccardo Tisci
Lighting, Urs Schönebaum
Dramaturgy, Benedikt Stampfli
Chorus master, Alessandro Di Stefano
Film actor & Performance, Marina Abramović
Film actor, Willem Dafoe
Adèle Charvet, mezzo-soprano – Carmen
Selene Zanetti, soprano – Floria Tosca
Leah Hawkins, soprano – Desdemona
Lauren Fagan, soprano – Norma
Adela Zaharia, soprano – Lucia Ashton
Hera Hyesang Park, soprano – Violetta Valéry
Gabriella Reyes, soprano – Cio-Cio-San

The Opéra national de Paris is coproducer of the opera, presenting it in partnership with the Festival d’Automne à Paris.
Coproduction: Opéra national de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper

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Duration: 90 minutes
Performance in French, Italian and English, with supertitles in French and English

The first work to be presented at the 50th Festival d’Automne à Paris sees the festival joining forces with the Opéra national de Paris to present the performance opera 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, an incandescent and emblematic work marking a new venture between the two cultural institutions.

Marina Abramović stands as a pioneer figure in performance art, making a major impact changing the perception of the female body prevailing in the 20th century. The autobiographical nature of her work, including violence inherent in the dramas and disappointments of love, has a special significance in the context of the life of Maria Callas. Who better than the grand diva could epitomize mortal passion, in both opera and private life? Marina Abramović presents the heroine, her own counterpart, in a fatal relationship with love as rendered here on stage. 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, a work of opera, performance and video art, features arias from roles played by the legendary soprano, with allusions to the dying heroines sacrificed on stage by 19th century composers. Marco Nicodijević, the Serbian composer born in 1980, offers an eclectic range of contemporary musical languages in his prologue and interludes, taking the audience across the range from Puccini to Bizet, from Verdi to Bellini.