Details
Letter to Peter, on Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen

In 1992, Olivier Messiaen's epic opera "Saint François d'Assise" was brought to the Salzburg Festival in a staging by Peter Sellars. The distinct visual appearance that Sellars lent to the opera, where video monitors with powerful images are used as a sort of high-tech metaphor for a cathedral's stained glass, drew critical acclaim and is still talked about as a watershed moment in opera to this day. This film here is a 75-minute documentary on the 1992 staging. Jean-Pierre Gorin filmed Sellars, baritone José van Dam (St. Francis) soprano Dawn Upshaw (The Angel), and the LA Philharmonic and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen as they rehearsed for the big day. There are interviews with these artists, though Sellars gets most of the screen time. The documentary is very much about Sellars' vision for Messiaen's theatrical drama. Very little is said about Messiaen's music.

Back to main page

Letter to Peter, on Saint François d'Assise by Olivier Messiaen

Video reviews

There are no video reviews for this movie yet.

It looks like there are no video reviews for this movie yet. Have you watched it? Be the first one to upload a video review!

New video review
Video reviews
0 review(s)
Text reviews
0 review(s)

New to Criticate?

Sign up now to be able to rate and review games, movies and tv shows!

Sign up