A woman fights for the love of a man over the phone - this is the story told by Francis Poulenc and the writer Jean Cocteau in their mono-opera La Voix humaine. The woman hears only the voice of the man who wants to leave her, while we the audience hear only the woman's voice and see her on stage reminiscing about good times together, arguing, flirting and pleading with him.

 
La Voix humaine, written in 1959, is a monologue about an extinguished love and the multifaceted portrait of a strong woman - and at the same time a fascinating opera in which the telephone becomes the third actor in a love drama. Two years later, Poulenc and Cocteau created La Dame de Monte-Carlo, a portrait of an ageing beauty who takes refuge from life's disappointments in the casinos. Anna Catarina Antonacci will slip into the role of these very different female characters in a performance with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.

The concert opens with Poulenc's witty Sinfonietta, composed in 1947.
Concertante performance in French with German surtitles
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of the performance