INTRAMUROS EVENINGS: POULENC’S “LA VOIX HUMAINE”

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Intramuros Evenings: Francis Poulenc’s ‘La Voix Humaine,’ originally scheduled for November 12 (Wednesday), has been rescheduled to November 13 (Thursday), 7:00 PM, at the Centro de Turismo, Intramuros, Manila. All registrants for the November 12 event will retain their slots for the new date.

PRESENTED BY:
Intramuros Administration
in cooperation with
Cultural Center of the Philippines 

DATE | TIME | VENUE:
November 13, 2025 | 7:00 PM
CCP @ Centro de Turismo, Intramuros, Manila

DESCRIPTION:

La Voix Humaine is the third offering in the Intramuros Evenings series. The program opens with Francis Poulenc’s Aubade, a choreographic concerto for piano and ensemble of eighteen instruments, featuring pianist Raul Sunico and the USTSO Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Herminigildo Ranera.

The evening continues with Poulenc’s one-act opera La Voix Humaine, based on Jean Cocteau’s 1928 play. A forty-minute tragédie lyrique for soprano and orchestra, the work follows a woman’s final, heartbreaking phone conversation with her lover who has left her. Alone in her room, she moves through shifting emotions – love, despair, and resignation – as the conversation is repeatedly cut off, mirroring her emotional unraveling.  Starring soprano Armela Fortuna, this performance brings Poulenc’s poignant score and Cocteau’s psychological drama to life in a powerful night of music and storytelling, set against the historic backdrop of Intramuros.

Part of the CCP’s continuing partnership with the Intramuros Administration, Intramuros Evenings is a cultural project that revives and celebrates the vibrant traditions of Intramuros through music, arts, and heritage activities.

TICKETS:

FREE ADMISSION, LIMITED SEATS ONLY

Seating on a First-Come, First-Served Basis

PROGRAM:

Aubade (approx. 20–22 min)

Raul Sunico, Piano 

USTSO Chamber Orchestra

Herminigildo Ranera, conductor

Intermission

La Voix Humaine, one-act opera (approx. 40–45 min)

Armela Fortuna, featured artist

Raul Sunico, featured pianist 

UST SO Chamber Orchestra

Herminigildo Ranera, conductor

Herminigildo Ranera, conductor

University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director Gawad CCP Awardee Nonon Padilla 

Production Design Gawad CCP Awardee Gino Gonzales 

Light Design Gawad CCP Awardee Monino Duque 

Video Design GA Fallarme 

Costumes Josie Natori

PROGRAM NOTES:

Aubade

At once a ballet, concerto, and psychological portrait, Aubade is one of Francis Poulenc’s most strikingly original works. Scored for solo piano and a chamber ensemble of 18 instruments, it portrays the Roman goddess Diana at dawn, torn between chastity and desire. Commissioned by the Vicomte de Noailles and premiered in 1929 as a private ballet, the piece unfolds in eight connected sections that blend myth, music, and introspection. The piano serves not as a virtuosic hero but as Diana’s inner voice—elegant, restless, and full of emotional tension—capturing the quiet struggle between solitude and longing in the light of a new day.

La Voix Humaine – Synopsis:

The curtain opens to reveal a bedroom where a woman (Elle) lies unmoving on the ground. She changes position once before finally rising. Although she makes to leave the room, the phone rings and she returns to answer it. The woman receives two wrong numbers before her ex-lover is able to get through to her. She lies to him, saying that she went out with her friend Marthe the previous night, and that she took one pill to help her fall asleep when she returned. The couple discuss their past relationship, and Elle blames herself for their problems, claiming, “Tout est ma faute.” Throughout their conversation, they experience numerous telephone problems, and their connection finally cuts out completely. When Elle calls her lover’s home phone, she discovers that he is not there and assumes that he is at a restaurant. He calls her back, and Elle reveals that she has lied during their conversation; instead of going out with Marthe the previous night, she took twelve sleeping pills in an attempted suicide. She then called Marthe, who arrived with a doctor to save her. Elle suddenly hears music in the background, and she grows suspicious that her lover is at the home of his new girlfriend. She expresses her suspicions to him several times until the end of the opera, but he never admits to his true location. Elle also reveals her obsession with the telephone, explaining that she has slept with it in her bed for the past two nights. Their connection fails once again, and Elle panics. Her lover calls her back once more, and she informs him that she now has the telephone cord wrapped around her neck. Telling him she loves him over and over, she sinks into her bed and drops the receiver, possibly strangling herself with its cord in the process.