Curtis Opera Theatre and Curtis New Music Ensemble Present Saariaho’s Profound Opera-Oratorio La Passion de Simone
Curtis Opera Theatre continues its 2025–26 series with La Passion de Simone, joined by members of Curtis New Music Ensemble at Philadelphia Film Center’s Mainstage Theater on Thursday, February 26, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 28, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. Widely praised as “profoundly moving” and an “earnest meditation” (New York Times), this opera-oratorio by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and French-Lebanese librettist Amin Maalouf explores the life and work of Simone Weil, the radical French philosopher and activist.
Led by innovative director and new media artist Marcus Shields, La Passion de Simone features a talented cohort of rising stars from Curtis Opera Theatre. The cast spotlights soprano Nikan Ingabire Kanate as Narrator and soprano Jeysla Rosario Santos as Reader, alongside a vocal quartet featuring soprano Maya Mor-Mitrani, mezzo-soprano Carlyle Quinn, tenor Henry Drangel, and bass-baritone Sebastian Wittmoser Herrera. Shields returns to Curtis after directing Mozart’s comic masterpiece Le nozze di Figaro in February of 2025.
The production also features members of Curtis New Music Ensemble under the baton of conductor Marc Lowenstein, founding music director of Los Angeles experimental opera company The Industry. Described as “awe-inspiring” by the New Yorker and an “assured conductor” by the New York Times, Lowenstein returns to Curtis after leading the October 2024 production of The Comet / Poppea.
Saariaho and Maalouf’s La Passion de Simone immerses listeners in the spiritual thoughts of Simone Weil, whose pursuit of justice shaped 20th-century thought. Considered radical in her commitment to live with the oppressed, Weil lived her beliefs, joining the Spanish Civil War, working in factories, and serving at a refugee camp. Ultimately, La Passion de Simone is a contemplation on the depth of human suffering—and what it means to truly witness it.
“One of Weil’s most radical ideas was that attention is the purest form of generosity,” Shields says. “To truly look at something, to see another person’s suffering without turning away, is for her an ethical act. She refused comfort and belonging—and refused to look away from suffering. In a world saturated with distraction, this idea feels startlingly contemporary.”
Inspired by the Baroque Passion Play, this powerful work consists of 15 stations, an iteration of the Christian mediation on the 14 Stations of the Cross. Each movement presents a different character and structure, shedding light on significant moments in Weil’s life. Listeners are guided through scenes by a soprano narrator, contributing to the work’s sense of flow and ethereal strangeness.
“In this production, we do not attempt to illustrate Weil’s biography,” Shields continues. “Instead, we create a visual and spatial environment that allows the audience to inhabit the act of contemplation itself. The stage becomes a field of perception. Bodies, light, sound, and space are arranged so that we experience stillness, distance, proximity, and time as Weil might have experienced.
La Passion de Simone does not tell us what to think about her. It asks us to practice the discipline she devoted her life to: Look carefully, listen deeply, and remain present in the face of what is difficult to bear.”
This production is brought to life through a technical team of scenic and lighting designer Frank J. Oliva, costume designer Amanda Gladu, and hair and makeup designer Brittany Rappise.
Single tickets to the Thursday, February 26 performance start at $34 and can be purchased at curtis.edu. The Saturday, February 28 performance is currently sold out. To be notified when additional tickets become available, join the waitlist.
