Rachel Fenlon & Mireille Lebel to Headline Opéra de Québec’s ‘Pierrot entre 3 Lunes’
By David SalazarOpéra de Québec will present the world premiere of “Pierrot entre 3 Lunes” and with this premiere comes a dream come true for two close friends.
The showcase, set for July 31 and August 2, 2025 features a transposition of Schönberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” with new compositions by Rachel Fenlon, who not only performs in the show, but is joined by her close friend Mireille Lebel.
“Pierrot Lunaire means a great deal to both artists.
Lebel told OperaWire that “Pierrot Lunaire” was the first piece she fell in love with as a student in Toronto and, after convincing her conductor to lead a performance of it for her senior recital, it became one of her warhorses.
“In recent years, I began thinking about what Pierrot’s gestures might mean in today’s world. In our climate of polarized thinking, following a deeply nuanced main character, Rachel and I began thinking about Pierrot as the symbol of the Troubadour – wandering between different worlds and genres. 5 years later, we are mounting Pierrot entre 3 lunes, which is a a show that features the interplay of two completely different worlds, through the lens of Pierrot – by combining opera and electronic music,” she added.
“As composer/performer of the new music in ‘Pierrot entre 3 lunes,’ the big inspiration for me has been the opportunity to incorporate my own experience from the Berlin experimental electronic music scene into new compositions for operatic voices,” Fenlon told OperaWire. “Five years ago, Mireille and I founded a Berlin-based artist collective dedicated to creating highly experimental, staged projects. Fast forward to now, and we’re bringing a full length work for theatre and dance to North America for the first time.”
Fenlon expanded on this, noting that what makes it all the more rewarding is “writing for your best friend.”
“I’ve been putting Mireille to work these days – I’ve been recording layers of Mireille’s voice to build vocal synthesizers, and crafting the electronic elements we’ll perform with in this piece. The electronics will also include live vocal processing as well (such as delay, glitch, reverb). I’ve worked with electronics in my own performances for years, and I’ve found that opera singing and electronics together reveal incredible dimensions of the voice. I’m super inspired by how the pop world embraces sophisticated technology on a daily basis, and I’ve been approaching my compositions with the question: how can operatic, acoustic vocalists engage with this same level of technological innovation in a high-art, meaningful way? ‘Pierrot entre 3’ lunes feels like a wild card of electro-pop meets contemporary classical, and it’s been an incredibly fun process.”
Lebel also noted her excitement for the opportunity to work as a producer.
“As an opera singer, one waits around to be offered a great role and then puts everything they have into it, and so rarely are we involved in a project from creation to presentation,” she noted. “Working under the umbrella of our collective, Crown The Muse, Rachel Fenlon and I decided to develop this idea, enlisting other artists, dancers, choreographers, we loved to contribute to the vision. This piece is really a synthesis of all the avenues we have been exploring as artists in the past decade, and thanks to the support of Opera de Quebec, it is getting its premiere this summer,” concluded Lebel.
“Pierrot entre 3 Lunes” is described as a “contemporary opera and dance performance” with choreography by Idan Cohen and musical direction by Karl Hirzer.
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