About the work
Monodrama for soprano and chamber orchestra by Kaija Saariaho, to a libretto by Amin Maalouf. Commissioned jointly by Opéra de Lyon, the Barbican Centre London and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, it premiered on 1 March 2010 at the Opéra de Lyon, with Karita Mattila in the title role under conductor Kazushi Ono.
Plot
Across nine scenes, the pregnant physicist and mathematician Émilie du Châtelet, days after completing her translation of Newton's Principia and close to death from the coming birth, relives her life alone in her chamber – in inner dialogue with herself and in letters to her lover Saint-Lambert and to Voltaire.
Cultural significance
Running around 75 minutes for a single singer, Émilie is among Saariaho's most intimate, chamber-scaled stage works and pays tribute to one of the Enlightenment's foremost scientists.