Language: French
Subtitles: English, German, Italian, Spanish

Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's symbolist play of the same name. It premiered at the Salle Favart in Paris by the Opéra-Comique on 30 April 1902; Jean Périer was Pelléas and Mary Garden was Mélisande, conducted by André Messager, who was instrumental in getting the Opéra-Comique to stage the work. It is the only opera Debussy ever completed. It has remained regularly staged and recorded throughout the 20th- and into the 21st-century.

Out of fashion and out of time, Pelléas et Mélisande is a unique work in the history of opera. A bit like the characters who evolve there elsewhere, lost in the mists of a dream that does not stop, which is said in soft and allusive words, to the rhythm of a hypnotic music that would be their cloudy mirror.

The plot concerns a love triangle. Prince Golaud finds Mélisande, a mysterious young woman, lost in a forest. He marries her and brings her back to the castle of his grandfather, King Arkel of Allemonde. Here Mélisande becomes increasingly attached to Golaud's younger half-brother Pelléas, arousing Golaud's jealousy. Golaud goes to excessive lengths to find out the truth about Pelléas and Mélisande's relationship, even forcing his own child, Yniold, to spy on the couple. Pelléas decides to leave the castle but arranges to meet Mélisande one last time and the two finally confess their love for one another. Golaud, who has been eavesdropping, rushes out and kills Pelléas. Mélisande dies shortly after, having given birth to a daughter, with Golaud still begging her to tell him "the truth."

"The drama of Pelléas which, despite its dream-like atmosphere, contains far more humanity than those so-called 'real-life documents', seemed to suit my intentions admirably. In it there is an evocative language whose sensitivity could be extended into music and into the orchestral backcloth."

Directon: Benjamin Lazar (Director), Maxime Pascal (Music Conductor)
Cast: Pelléas: Marc Mauillon, Mélisande: Jenny Daviet, Geneviève: Emma Lyrén, Golaud: Laurent Alvaro, Yniold: Julie Mathevet, Arkel: Stephen Bronk, A doctor: Stefano Olcese, Malmö Opera Choir and Orchestra