"Every morning the children came to play in the garden of the Giant...". …Once upon a time there was a marvelous garden dotted with flowers where every afternoon, leaving school, the children invented extraordinary games. This garden was inhabited by a strange person, so solitary that he was called "the Selfish Giant". Returning from a long journey, the Giant heard the laughter of children playing in his garden, he chased them away and built a huge wall to prevent them from entering. Frost, Snow and the North Wind took hold of the garden; but the children dug a passage in the wall and brought back the joy and the colours of spring. The Giant then understood his selfishness and welcomed them forever into the garden...

Oscar Wilde's tale is transformed into a 35' little opera, articulated in arias, duets, choirs, concertati, pantomimes... an initiation to the codes and rhythms of lyrical art, through a paradigmatic story of knowledge and acceptance of difference and a message of universal solidarity.

THE SELFISH GIANT
Children opera by Sergio Monterisi
based on the tale by Oscar Wilde

Libretto by Sergio Monterisi
New French version by Magali Thomas
Direction, sets and costumes: Magali Thomas

The Giant Baritone-Bass
The Night Soprano

Children's choir and instrumental ensemble of El Sistema Opéra Méditerranée
Direction: Sergio Monterisi
First performance (Italian version): Bitonto, 05/01/2005
First performance (new French version): Cannes, Miramar Theater, 01/07/2022
First performance (Spanish version): Montevideo, 14/08/2021

Duration: 35'

LINKS

LGE 1
https://youtu.be/JYBapjVcKvE

LGE 2
https://youtu.be/VgxWecRf–0

FULL VIDEO
https://youtu.be/KM_fiml4xe0