Le Balcon

Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951)
Pierrot lunaire op. 21 (1912)

In 2013, Le Balcon created a new production of Arnold Schönberg's Pierrot lunaire (1874-1951), a musical setting of 21 poems by Belgian poet Albert Giraud. 21 tableaux, like so many macabre little stories, to which Le Balcon makes two major contributions: the libretto is translated entirely into French, and the title role is played by a man, placing tenor Damien Bigourdan at the center of the work, just beneath the moon. Add to this Nieto's monstrous, nightmare-filled staging, and you've got Pierrot in glowing black and phosphorescent paint. He crosses paths with other Commedia Dell'Arte figures such as Cassandra and Columbine, in a grimacing Viennese cabaret imagery that extends beyond the theater stage. That is, until the lights come back on.

First performance of Le Balcon: April 23, 2009 at Église Saint-Merry, Paris.