Philemon and Baucis

Tickets:
Saturday 9 May — 11:00
Saturday 9 May — 16:00
Sunday 10 May — 11:00
Sunday 10 May — 16:00

A luminous marionette opera in a world in flames.

Jupiter is furious. Humanity drives him to despair. The Earth is inhabited only by selfish and greedy, deceitful and violent beings. Accompanied by Mercury, he decides to descend from Olympus to mingle with mortals and judge whether this species deserves survival or annihilation. Disguised as beggars, the two gods are turned away from every door. Only a poor farming couple, Philemon and Baucis, offer them hospitality. Will they succeed in calming divine wrath?

L'Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and the Théâtre des Marionnettes de Genève join forces to revive Joseph Haydn’s "Philemon and Baucis", an opera composed in 1773 especially for marionettes. This new adaptation combines spoken text and operatic arias in a contemporary staging by Kim Crofts. Here, the puppets give physical form to the mythological characters immortalised in Ovid’s Metamorphoses—figures whose struggles resonate uncannily with our modern world.

For ages 8 and up. In French.

Raphaël Merlin, conductor
Kim Crofts, stage director
Joël Hefti, Chine Curchod, puppeteers