Les Sept péchés capitaux

Presented by Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (LR-228514). Les Sept péchés capitaux Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht All the biting irony of Kurt Weill delivered with mastery by Nina Stemme Cast Nina Stemme | soprano Jennifer France | soprano Swedish Chamber Orchestra H. K. Gruber | direction Program In the first part of the program Weill Der neue Orpheus Symphony No. 2 In a few words Like The Rite of Spring, Kurt Weill's Les Sept péchés capitaux is intimately linked to the history of the Théâtre. This sung ballet was premiered here on June 7, 1933 by singer Lotte Lenya in a choreography by Balanchine. The work had been commissioned by a wealthy young Englishman to be performed by the Ballets 33 troupe recently founded by George Balanchine and Boris Kochno. Cocteau was at one point considered for the libretto, which was ultimately written by Brecht (who later disowned his text). The score is infused with various popular genres (waltz, foxtrot…) within a symphonic structure in the grand manner of a cantata. Nina Stemme, the greatest Isolde of her generation, is also an exceptional recitalist, as comfortable with Mahler's visionary modernism as with Weill's ironic detachment. Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées