Pelléas et Mélisande brings cosmic vision of Debussy to Grand Théâtre de Genève

From 26 October to 4 November 2025, the Grand Théâtre de Genève presents Pelléas et Mélisande, Claude Debussy’s only completed opera — to the stage after its digital premiere in 2021.

To reimagine Maeterlinck’s symbolist love triangle, the theatre reunites the creative constellation first formed at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp in 2018 – choreographers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Damien Jalet as co-directors, performance artist Marina Abramović as a set designer, and avant-garde fashion designer Iris van Herpen as a costume designer. Together, they transform Debussy’s elusive, dreamlike score into a total artwork — a convergence of music, movement, and visual art that transcends the boundaries of traditional opera.

Set within Abramović’s cosmic and retro-futuristic scenography — her meditation on love as a universal and spiritual force — the production unites singers and dancers from the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Eastman Dance Company. The video artist Marco Brambilla, known for his NASA-inspired collages, contributes a celestial layer of immersive imagery, extending Debussy’s musical landscapes into a visual universe. Under the baton of Juraj Valčuha, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande returns to Debussy’s score with fluid precision and emotional restraint, delivering the opera’s first live performance in Geneva since 1999.

The cast includes Mari Eriksmoen as Mélisande, Björn Bürger as Pelléas, Leigh Melrose as Golaud, Sophie Koch as Geneviève, and Nicolas Testé as Arkel. Each brings refined psychological depth to the story — a symbolist tale where desire and silence intertwine, and where the visible conceals the essential.

Following last season’s acclaimed Idomeneo, re di Creta by Mozart — designed by Chiharu Shiota, who enveloped the stage in her signature web-like installation — the Grand Théâtre continues to expand the definition of opera as an interdisciplinary visually intense art form. The encounter between Shiota’s spatial poetics and Abramović’s cosmic vision highlights the theatre’s dedication to creating a dialogue between classical repertoire and contemporary artistic language.

Echoing Scriabin’s utopian ideal, the production transforms Debussy’s opera into a multisensory experience — a synthesis of sound, movement, light, and spiritual energy. Like Scriabin’s dream of Mysterium, this staging aspires to dissolve the boundaries between the arts, creating an immersive world where perception itself becomes part of the performance.

Founded in 1879 and rebuilt after a fire in 1951, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is one of Switzerland’s leading opera houses, known for its bold programming and cross-disciplinary collaborations. The institution regularly invites visual artists, designers, and choreographers to reinterpret the operatic canon through a contemporary lens, positioning itself as a European hub for artistic experimentation and aesthetic dialogue.

Dates: 26 October — 4 November 2025
Venue: Grand Théâtre de Genève
Language: French, with surtitles in French and English