Go on a sonic journey with Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) as the ensemble showcases its digital premiere of La Voix Humaine on July 18. Streamed online on Sistic Live on a pay-as-you-wish-basis, SSO's rendition of the 20th-century opera classic written by the French composer Francis Poulenc, based on the text by the French poet Jean Cocteau.
An intense tour de force for solo soprano, this intimate one-woman opera is highly emotive. it follows Elle – sung in this performance by SSO soprano Jennifer Lien – who unravels after her break-up. Alone in her bedroom, she cradles the telephone and clings onto her ex-lover's every word who's on the other end of the line. She tries to keep him on the line on the eve of his wedding by flirting, pleading, manipulating, and even threatening him. Yet, she remains helpless against the rising force of her emotions – something that is universally recognisable. It's opera at its rawest.