This year’s “Nuit de la culture” of Belval/ Esch-sur-Alzette coincides with the anniversary of the birth of Pyotr Tchaikovsky. For this occasion Darya von Berner has programmed “Why haven’t I known this before?” the first aria of Tchaikovsky’s opera Iolanta in a performatic version that will take place at Haut Fourneau A, en Belval.

The Princess Iolanta became blind when she was a baby, but no one has ever told her, nor does she know she is a princess. She lives in a beautiful enclosed garden on the king’s estate, secluded from the world. Her father has ordered that she must under no circumstance know that she is blind. In this aria, the princess declares her sadness, and her vague sense that she is missing something important that other people can experience. Whilst wading around the pond, her voice expresses a deep feeling. At the end of the aria she lies down weary and falls asleep.

In this aria the role of princess Iolanta will be sung by the soprano Anahita Ahsef, accompanied on piano by Richard Wieser, and the students of the Lycée Hubert Clément (Jennifer Server, Thea Lepage, Luana Capus). This operatic scene with a duration of 15 minutes will be interpreted in the original Russian version.

The complete operatic performance Iolanta will take place on July 2nd and 3 nd, at the occasion of Fête des Hauts Fourneaux of Belval, this time again with the participation of Anahita Ahsef (Princess Iolanta) y con la incorporación de Ethan Herschenfeld (rey René), Felipe Rojas (Vaudémont), Boris Grappe (Ibn-Hakia el médico árabe) joined by Ethan Herschenfeld (King René), Felipe Rojas (Vaudémont), Boris Grappe (Ibn-Hakia the Arabian doctor) and the pianist Kevin Tamanini, all of them acompanied by the choir cantoLX and the students of the Lycée Hubert Clément.