CSO Announces Three-Year Multimedia Collaboration

The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Louis Langrée are thrilled to announce a three-year collaboration with director, production designer and visual artist James Darrah. The project involves a multi-faceted exploration of Maurice Maeterlinck's 1893 symbolist play, Pelléas et Mélisande. This artistic undertaking will utilize groundbreaking visual elements, complementing orchestral works by Schoenberg, Fauré and Debussy, which will be performed by the CSO throughout the upcoming three consecutive seasons. Each work performed will have an accompanying elemental theme: smoke, water and stone.

The Trilogy begins with next weekend's "Love Forbidden" concerts (Part I: Smoke) on Oct. 2-3 at Music Hall. Schoenberg's 1903 orchestral tone poem Pelleas und Melisande, performed by the CSO under the baton of Music Director Louis Langrée, will be accompanied by video (directed by James Darrah) projected on sheer curtains hanging throughout the Orchestra on stage.

The project continues throughout the CSO's transition to its temporary home at the Taft Theatre and back again while the Orchestra's Music Hall home undergoes renovation. The 2016-17 season (to be performed at the Taft Theatre) will feature Fauré's 1898 Pelléas et Mélisande (Part II: Water), performed as incidental music with theater and spoken word texts by Maeterlinck. The 2017-18 season (performed at newly-renovated Music Hall) will feature Part III: Stone--Debussy's 1902 opera by the same name in collaboration with Cincinnati Opera. Dates and times for these performances will be announced at a later date.

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