In Guilty Night

In Guilty Night is a semi-staged opera blending baroque and electronic music. The programme brings together several airs by Henry Purcell, centred on the eponymous micro-oratorio In Guilty Night: Saul and the Witch of Endor, which is answered by a world premiere by Uèle Lamore, specially commissioned for the occasion.

The project is led by conductor Jonas Descotte and his Geneva-based ensemble Les Argonautes. Uèle Lamore, a composer known for her writing blending electronic music and symphonic forms, establishes a new dialogue between early sonorities and contemporary textures. At the heart of the staging, a spoken choir made up of ÉPI beneficiaries brings a human and collective dimension to the creation.

The aim is to bring Purcell's baroque heritage into dialogue with a contemporary electronic musical language, and to give this musical encounter a collective and human resonance through the involvement of ÉPI beneficiaries in the spoken choir — anchoring the creation in a dimension that is both artistic and social.

Performances

21 · 22 · 23 August 2026, 8:30 pm
Duration: 1h15
Refreshments & light catering: from 7 pm

The artistic team

Artistic direction, text & staging: Luc Birraux
Music: Uèle Lamore · Henry Purcell
Musical direction: Jonas Descotte
Soprano: Mariamielle Lamagat
Tenor: Joël Terrin
Bass-baritone: William Socolof
Performers: Michaël Comte · Kelly Chevaucherie · ÉPI beneficiaries
Lighting & installation: Julien Brun
Costumes: Benjamin Broillet
Sound: Jean Keraudren
Props: Greg Wattebled
Stage technician: Pierre-Étienne Birraux
Les Argonautes
Cello: Emma Vignier
Viola da gamba: Andrés García Fraile
Harpsichord: Baptiste Zeronian
Theorbo: Dana Howe

About the Opéra Populaire de Genève

On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, the Opéra de Chambre de Genève is becoming the Opéra Populaire de Genève. To mark this new milestone, its artistic director, Luc Birraux, has conceived In Guilty Night, a creation at the crossroads of the lyric concert, semi-staged at the Pavillon Sicli.
More information at: operapopulaire.ch