Daniel Izzo choreography

In 2010, Thierry Escaich composed his first opera, 'Claude', on a libretto by Robert Badinter after Victor Hugo’s 'Claude Gueux', was premiered at the Opéra National de Lyon in March 2013, earning high praise from the critics.

Composer, organist and improviser, Thierry Escaich is a unique figure on today’s music scene and one of the major representatives of the new generation of French composers. Following in the tradition of Franck, Messiaen and Dutilleux, and not refusing the contributions of popular music or elements of sacred inspiration, Escaich’s music bears witness above all to a powerful sense of formal architecture that plunges the listener into the heart of a superposition of original sound worlds.

“Rhorer conducts the orchestra and chorus (capable of terrifying murmurs and haunting background colour) in a performance that builds to a truly striking denouement. This is Escaich's first opera and it shouldn't be his last. It is the rare work of lyric theatre today that makes a truly moral claim on our attention” Gramophone