Émilie du Châtelet was larger than life: lover of Voltaire, among others; esteemed physicist who first defined kinetic energy; respected mathematician and translator of Newton’s Principia Mathematica; author of a treatise on the happiness of women; inventor of the concept of financial derivatives in part to pay off $1 million she lost to card sharks in a night of gambling—all of this achieved before she died in childbirth at the age of 42. Revered Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, internationally extolled for her contemporary operas, together with librettist Amin Maalouf, focuses on her heroine’s ruminations on love, fame and science during the last days of her life. World-renowned soprano Elizabeth Futral makes her Festival debut in this highly anticipated American premiere of a work described as “an international event” by The Times of London. Directed by Marianne Weems. Conducted by Spoleto Festival USA Resident Conductor John Kennedy.
Emilie will be presented in New York as part of Lincoln Center Festival in June 2012