opera

The Curing Line

Michael Gallen

irish focus

Book now

— 6 to 26€
carte musica 13€

Performances

Sat, 26 Sep 2026

19:00
Sun, 27 Sep 2026

17:00

Cité de la musique et de la danse

Auditorium

Duration: 1:20

in English, with French surtitles

What if healing were not about soothing, but about awakening? With The Curing Line, Michael Gallen envisions an opera shaped by opposing forces, where ancestral knowledge meets the urgency of an electrified present.

Through the figure of Cora — a young woman entrusted with an ancestral gift she can no longer practice — The Curing Line addresses the questions of transmission and potential cultural decay in a society that loses the capacity to care for itself. Accompanying her, a collective of multi-talented performers from opera, traditional music, as well as pop and experimental music backgrounds combine acting, singing and instrumental practice to bring this polyphonic narrative to life. A choir joins them on stage, giving voice to sean-nós — a highly ornamented Irish singing tradition — which Gallen interweaves with incantatory motifs, industrial sounds, and bodily pulses. A committed and compelling work in which healing becomes a matter of memory, community, and transformation.

Program

The Curing Line (2026)
french premiere

composition, direction, libretto Michael Gallen
libretto Annemarie Ní Churreáin
direction, video design Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern
set design, costume design Pai Rathaya
video design Simon Cullen
lighting design Yukiko Yoshimoto

Cast

musical director Clara Baget
soprano Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Sarah Shine
drums, french horn, trumpet, vocals Romain Bly
clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals Joséphine Besançon
double bass, electric bass, vocals Caimin Gilmore
violin, viola, vocals Maria Ryan
piano, harp, whistle, vocals Oisín Walsh-Peelo
Choeur de Chambre de l’Université de Strasbourg
chorus master Yann Lauras
performer on film Colm Breathnach, Ruth McGill, Aaron O’Hare

commissioned by Centre Culturel Irlandais
production Straymaker
coproduction Kilkenny Arts Festival (Kilkenny, IR), Miroirs Étendus (Lille), Once Off Productions (Waterford, IR), Copenhagen Opera Festival (Copenhague, DK)
supported by Arts Council Ireland, Creative Monaghan

Winner of the FEDORA Opera Prize 2025 with the support of The Silver Company

presented with Opéra national du Rhin