Montag aus Licht
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Montag aus Licht, opera in a greeting, three acts and a farewell
In the vast Licht (Light) cycle, to which Karlheinz Stockhausen devoted twenty-five years of his life, Monday is the day of Eve. A sumptuous, poetic “musical ceremony of veneration of the mother”, the work celebrates the fertility, engendering and perpetual rebirth of humanity, the child and, through the child, the renewed beauty of the universe.
Composed for a full orchestra, Lundi is part of the spiral that is Licht, a symbol of growth and continuity between the here below and the hereafter, in a powerful movement of spiritual elevation. Water, source of life, matrix liquid, amniotic, infiltrates in many forms: sea, rain, hail, ice, steam, damp earth with green grass, glassy water sculpture, cloud... Then, at the end of the last act, Eve is transformed into a mountain, bushes, shrubs, plants, streams and animals spreading out from her skin, while around her, white birds slowly flap their wings. A song of the earth and a cloud of bird-children.
Commissions
Evas Erstgeburt (Act 1) : WDR Cologne
Evas-Lied (Act 2, scene 4): Berliner Festwochen
Der Kinderfänger (Act 3, scene 2) and Entführung (Act 3, scene 3): Rencontres Internationales de Musique Contemporaine, Metz
Composition: 1984-1988
World premiere: May 7, 1988, at Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
Revived at the Festival d'Automne in Paris in 1988.
Publisher: Stockhausen Verlag.
Tickets (Philharmonie de Paris).
Tickets (Festival d'Automne à Paris).
Complete premiere of this production on November 29, 2025 at the Philharmonie de Paris - Cité de la Musique.
Creation of part of Act 2 and Act 3 on January 18 and 19, 2025 at the Opéra de Lille.
Structure
Opera in three acts, a salute and a farewell for 21 performers (14 solo voices, 6 solo instrumentalists, 1 actor), chorus (on tape or live), 21 actresses (only in stage performances), children's chorus, girls' chorus, modern orchestra (3 synthesizers, 1 percussionist, tape) / conductor, sound projection.
Montags-Gruss (Monday greeting)
Act I: Evas Erstgeburt (Eve's first birth)
- In Hoffnung (Waiting)
- Heinzelmännchen (Dwarfs)
- Geburts-Arien (Birth airs)
- Knabengeschrei (Boys' cries)
- Luzifers Zorn (Lucifer's wrath)
- Das grosse Geweine (The great sobs)
Act II: Evas Zweitgeburt (Eve's second birth)
- Mädchenprozession (Procession of young girls)
- Befruchtung mit Klavierstück (Fertilization with piano piece)
- Wiedergeburt (Renaissance)
- Evas Lied (Eve's song)
Act III: Evas Zauber (Eve's Magic)
- Botschaft (Message)
- Der Kinderfänger (The Child Abductor)
- Entführung (Abduction)
Montags-Abschied (Monday Farewell)
Photos © Hervé Escario & Simon Gosselin
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Hervé Escario
© Simon Gosselin
© Simon Gosselin
© Simon Gosselin
© Simon Gosselin
Musical direction Maxime Pascal
Stage direction, set design, costumes Silvia Costa
Conductor: Maîtrise de Radio-France Sofi Jeannin
Conductor: Trinity Boys Choir Nicholas Mulroy
Conductor: Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris Richard Wilberforce, Pierre-Louis de Laporte
Conductor: Jeune Chœur des Hauts-de-France Pascale Dieval-Wils
Conductor : Maîtrise de Paris Pierre-Louis de Laporte
Assistant directors Rosabel Huguet Dueñas, Luna Scolari
Set design assistant Davis Hart
Computer music design Étienne Demoulin, Augustin Muller, Romain Vuillet
Sound projection Florent Derex
Sound engineer Nicolas Widmer
Lighting Lila Meynard, Bertrand Couderc
Lighting technician Sébastien Böhm
Video Nieto, Claire Pedot
Video technician Yann Philippe, Baptiste Klein
Costume design Marguerite Lantz, Cédric Tirado
Assistant costume design Maud Lemercier
Seamstress Léopoldine Bouquillion, Cécile Pineau, Pryscille Pulisciano
Props manager Eugénie Dauptain
Costume intern Margot Vicenté
Make up and hair design Gaëlle Mennesson
Make up and hair team Elise Herbe, Lucie Métrier, Lucie Telga, Lucrèce Cuvelier
Production manager Anne Lebouvier, Timon Nicolas
Stage manager Mateo Vermot, Victor Le Borgne
Technical director Camille Lézer
Le Balcon
Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris
Jeune Chœur des Hauts-de-France
Soloists of the Trinity Boys Choir
Maîtrise de Radio France
Maîtrise de Paris (CRR)
Act 1
Eve as three women Michiko Takahashi, Marie Picaut, Clara Barbier Serrano, sopranos
Three sailors Josué Miranda, Safir Behloul, Ryan Veillet, tenors
Lucifer, Lucipolyp Florent Baffi, bass
Lucifer Elio Massignat, comedian
Act 2
Cœur de Basset Iris Zerdoud, basset horn
Busi Joséphine Besançon, basset horn
Busa Alice Caubit, basset horn
Muschi Pia Davila, soprano
Budgerigar Pianist Alphonse Cemin, piano
Act 3
Eve Iris Zerdoud, basset-horn
Ave / Der Kinderfänger Claire Luquiens, flute
Modern Orchestra
Keyboards Bianca Chillemi, Sarah Kim, Alain Muller, Haga Ratovo, Chae Um Kim
Percussions Akino Kamiya
Trombone Mathieu Adam
Actress Nàdia Alsalti-Baldellou, Célia « Babyface » Bonus, Estelle Carleton, Yu Hsuan Chang, Arielle Chauvel-Lévy, Elise Daubié, Marion Dechanteloup, Alexia Dejean, Rebecca Figuigui, Ingrid Florin, Lili Gomond, Emmanuelle Grach, Coralie Hédouin, Dounia-Marie Jabbori, Sabrina Marsili, Anne Minetti, Asha Thomas
Pregnant woman Rebecca Figuigui
Animal-children and dwarfs (Act I)
Maîtrise de Radio-France
Director Sofi Jeannin
Choir conductor Marie-Noëlle Maerten
Animal-children Jahân Thiebault-Khanbabaï (Lion), Constance Jarry and Maélia Wels (Swallows), Livia Szekely (Horse), Louis Chardon (Parrot), Garance Nevers (Dog), Emie Madoni (Parakeet), Coline Saraf
Dwarfs Eliot Louvet (Mock), Emma Clemens-Jones (Dick), Guillaume Redt-Zimmer (Mick), Gabriel Sztykgold (Dock), Phileas Temkine (Frick), Bella Tabanou (Sack), Alexia Ducas (Sock), Wassil Baïchi
Young girls choir (Act II)
Maîtrise de Paris
Director Pierre-Louis de Laporte, assisted by Romane Belliot
Héloïse Bacquet, Judith Berthelot, Giao Berger Luguern, Madeleine Bechy, Toscane Calmeil, Anastasia Chete, Salomé Cyferstein, Chloé Deubelle-Cambe, Sarah Delhaye, Aria Feder, Valentine Gasparov, Gabrielle Godin-Duthoit, Daphné Klotchkoff, Agathe Le Gall, Appoline Lefevre, Ethel Levy, Charlotte Le Hunsec-Aline, Héloïse Rifflet, Clélia Simon, Mélanie Sollogoub, Clémence Stefanov, Joseph Sullerot Groulez, Lucie Thomas, Alexandra Vandenberg
Maîtrise de Radio-France
Director Sofi Jeannin
Jeanne Abourachid, Éléonore Bataille, Romane Barthe Chollet, Mélisande Chekroun, Laetitia Claude du Bouëxic de la Driennais, Lison Dubos, Lise Harnay, Léa Jacquemard, Léonie Lacour-Paty, Raphaëlle Maillard, Rosalie Mehring, Colombe Rozec, Thelma Saraf, Marie Tison
Boys of the week (Act II and III)
Trinity Boys College
Director Nicholas Mulroy
Michael Mulroy (Monday), Thomas Day (Tuesday), Alexander Wright (Wednesday), Alexander Hull (Thursday), Elliot Bergs (Friday), Xavier Karelis (Saturday), Alex Bradburn (Sunday), Glenn Tong
Men and Women (Act III)
Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris
Director Richard Wilberforce and Pierre-Louis de Laporte
Nida Baierl, Julien Catel, Thomas Chesworth, Justin Coube, Gilles Debenay, Christophe Delerce, Christiane Détrez-Lagny, Danyal Dhondy, Emmanuel Enault, Chloé Fabreguettes, Zoé Fouray*, Renaud Farkoa, Aude Glatard, Gaétane Guegan, Dina Ioualalen, Rainer Kabouya, Donatien Labrande, Clémence Lengagne, Zôé Lyard, Virginie Mekongo, Camila Milchberg, Michiko Monnier, Alice Moutier, Donnati Pala Walo, Martine Patrouillault, Agathe Petex, Laetitia Petit, Alan Picol*, Laurence Pouderoux*, Tsifa Razafimamonjy, Cécile Roqué Alsina, Arès Siradag, Xavier de Snoeck, Selvam Thorez, Julie Tourreau, Ryan Veillet*, Victor Wetzel
*Singers from the Balcon
The Children (Act III)
Jeune Chœur des Hauts-de-France
Director Pascale Diéval-Wils
Marceau Aguirre Zubiri, Margaux Beaugrand, Maïa Bondue, Pénélope Bartaïre, Estelle Bourgeois, Rose Cadet, Joséphine Carrera-Barthelemy, Capucine Catrice, Astrid Cruppe, Charlie Deparis-Quemere, Léonie Dobrakowski, Arthur Dreger, Violette Dumont, Flavie Fauconnier, Elana Hamon, Joséphine Lemoine, Mateo Leroy, Lélio Molins, Camille Morelle, Madeleine Penet-Avez, Camille Perrel, Violette Picot, Elina Trouille, Judith Vandamme, Marin Vandamme
Coproduction Le Balcon, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Fondation Fiminco, Opéra de Lille, Philharmonie de Paris
Corealisation Festival d’Automne à Paris, Philharmonie de Paris
With the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, the Fondation Singer-Polignac and the Fondation d'entreprise Société Générale
