“La Passion de Simone”, a musical journey in 15 stations, evoking Simone Weil, was staged by Peter Sellars at the Deutsche Opera’s Tischlerei, end of November. I had the chance to watch two of the rehearsals.

Soprano: Julia Bullock; Choir: Rundfunkchors Berlin (Isabelle Voßkühler, Christine Lichtenberg Alt, Jan Remmers Tenor, Wolfram Teßmer Bass); Orchestra: Orchester-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker; Conductor: Duncan Ward; Director assistant: Michael Schumacher

A thank you to Peter Sellars and Betsy Ayer.

1. Rehearsals- 23th of November

The first detail that caught my eye:

Fully equipped:

Hands on chest, away from the chair’s backrest, Peter Sellars immerses in his work:

His position never changes:

Portrait in portrait- up on stage, soprano Julia Bullock with a Simone Weil book cover:

On of the many gestures of her character:

The four singers choir, seen from above the chest, placed like a small text with unconventional spacing:

The team’s photographer, “machine gunning” snap shots, contributing with sound to music:

At one point, the conductor walks away from orchestra, to hear it better:

Down to essentials:

Being taken care of, at the end of the rehearsal, the only prop- a luminescent “gate”:

2. Rehearsals- 23th of November

Next day, at noon, orchestra rehearsal.

The conductor:

Suggesting his ideas by means of onomatopoeia:

And:

Postural choir:

Two ways of doing percussion:

High under Tischlerei’s ceiling, something that could have been a bat:

Coming to an end:

A final check on the luminous gate:

Coming back in the evening- ready for the final rehearsal. One of the assistants:

Camera operator, checking on his device:

I joined the team up in the control room- to see all the hard and software that manage the lights, the gate, the projected German subtitles.

A practical measure:

And:

The final rehearsals begin:

Glittering in the dark, the beauty of software:

The one taking care of the captions, annotating on the musical score:

Focused:

I noticed, at one moment, the clock built into the control desk:

The staging, an algorithm of fluorescence and gestures:

With the lights on, at the end of rehearsals, Mr. Sellars: