Smile !
24 → 03/25/2724March 25, 2027
Concert
Recital
Staging
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From French Melodies to Broadway: The Art of Smiling Through Music with Sabine Devieilhe

With *Smile!*, Sabine Devieilhe reveals an unexpected facet of her artistry. Far from the grand operatic heroines who made her famous, the soprano delves into the world of cabaret, café-concert, and musical theater in an intimate recital.

Surrounded by her collaborators from the ensemble I Giardini, she weaves a free-spirited and sensitive musical journey, carried by arrangements by Emmanuel Touchard. Laurent Pelly’s knowing direction lends a theatrical dimension that balances intimacy and whimsy.

The program creates a dialogue between worlds: Francis Poulenc and Erik Satie meet Stephen Sondheim, Édith Piaf, Joséphine Baker, and even Charlie Chaplin. From French mélodie to Broadway, from realist chanson to the spirit of music hall, Smile! explores a repertoire where smiles rub shoulders with melancholy.

Virtuosity, delicate tone, and precise diction: Sabine Devieilhe plays with styles and colors, shifting from playfulness to the rawest emotion.

Marc Blitzstein
"I Wish It So

" Guy Lafarge / Lucie Dolène
"Le Poulailler

" Francis Poulenc / Louis Aragon
⁠"Fêtes Galantes

" (Joséphine Baker) Georges Tabet / Augustin Lara
"Paris, Paris," Paris

(Cora Vaucaire) Jean Pellerin / Christiane Verger
⁠La grosse dame chante

Francis Poulenc / Maurice Carême
Lune d'avril

(Cora Vaucaire) Georges van Parys / Jean Renoir
⁠Complainte de la Butte

Erik Satie / Henry Pacory
I Want

You Stephen Sondheim
Losing My Mind

Francis Poulenc (Piano Solo)
Improvisation No. XV “Homage to Edith Piaf

⁠Cécile Chaminade / Rosemonde Gérard
My First Letter

Kurt Weill / Maurice Magre
I Don’t Love You

Charlie Chaplin / Turner & Parsons
Smile!

Raymond Lévesque
⁠Quand les hommes vivront d'amour

Marguerite Monnot / Edith Piaf⁠
L'hymne à l'amour

⁠Barbara
Gare de Lyon

Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein
All the things you are

Main credits

Secondary credits

  • Ensemble I Giardini
  • Laurent Pelly
    Mise en scène
  • Emmanuel Touchard
    Arrangements
  • Marco Giusti
    Création lumière
  • Alice le Moigne
    Son
Co-produced by La Cité Bleue Genève and the Grand Théâtre de Genève
  • Grand Théâtre de Genève