To Be Sung, staged by Pharrell Williams
4 AND 5 FEBRUARY 2026 – 8:30 PM
FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON
Pascal Dusapin
To Be Sung
“after A Lyrical Opera Made by Two by Gertrude Stein”
With Pascal Dusapin, composer
Pharrell Williams, Set design, lighting and costumes,
and Le Balcon, conducted by Maxime Pascal
Elise Chauvin, Jenny Daviet, Norma Nahoun, sopranos
Florence Darel, narrator
Movement collaborator, Suzanne Meyer
Sound design and spatialisation, Florent Derex
Répétiteur, Ayano Kamei
« Of the ten operas composed by Pascal Dusapin, To Be Sung is certainly the most singular. Its chamber format and its libretto borrowed from the American writer Gertrude Stein make it, as much as its genesis, a work apart, haunting and circular. This third opera, premiered in 1994, replaces the idea of staging with the plasticity of representation. No roles here, no protagonists of an action that could be summarised or described. In the abstract space of the “Large and lofty room” – the first four words uttered –, three voices move, mingling or unravelling, joining or parting, individualising themselves or playing on their similarities. To Be Sung is an opera of high virtuosity, a tour de force with neither beginning nor end. It is a lyrical moment whose pure sensuality calls upon the imagination of the listener and requires their letting go. »
Antoine Gindt, November 2025