Half Six Fix: La voix humaine

A different way to experience the LSO, with a burst of music to kick-start your evening: one piece introduced by the conductor, a relaxed atmosphere, and digital programme notes to delve deeper into the music while we play.

In this Half Six Fix: Barbara Hannigan conducts, presents and sings Poulenc’s opera La voix humaine: a heart, a soul and a whole human life, in one devastating telephone call.

‘Just a look could change everything … but with this telephone between us, what’s done is done. Don’t worry – no-one ever tries to kill themselves twice’. Alone in her bedroom, a young woman makes a call, as soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan brings all her artistry to a one-woman opera that connects straight to the heart.

We don’t know who she’s calling, or the story that has brought her to stake everything on a single shaky connection – but as the one-sided conversation unfolds, we find ourselves living every tear, every memory and every bitter, desperate hope. La voix humaine turns a monologue by Cocteau into a drama that burns itself onto your memory. Who better to take the central role than Barbara Hannigan, a performer who charges everything she performs with the immediacy and honesty of life itself?

'The London Symphony Orchestra’s regular Half Six Fix is a quick shot rather than the full classical cocktail: one hour; one symphony; no messing around.' (inews)