La Voix humaine with Barbara Hannigan, or Welcome to the Phantasmagorical World of Jean Cocteau

“Not only can a telephone sometimes be more dangerous than a revolver, but its twisted cord drains our strength and gives nothing in return,” Jean Cocteau once remarked of his libretto for Francis Poulenc’s opera La Voix humaine. Ladies and gentlemen, on 26 May allow yourselves to be drawn into the slightly phantasmagorical world of this eccentric Frenchman, guided by the Prague Spring 2026 Artist-in-Residence, Barbara Hannigan. In this extraordinary production, Hannigan appears simultaneously as singer, actress and conductor, leading the Czech Philharmonic for the first time in her career. The gripping performance, in which boxing motions and balletic hand movements are transformed into conducting gestures, is further intensified by video projection: three cameras follow the protagonist and project her image onto a large screen suspended above the orchestra.

Cocteau’s monologue has inspired numerous artistic works, including Pedro Almodóvar’s celebrated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Poulenc’s opera likewise conquered Milan’s Teatro alla Scala and other major international stages soon after its Paris premiere, and today stands among the jewels of twentieth-century operatic literature. “Nothing compares to this piece,” says Barbara Hannigan, whose artistic residency will be one of the major highlights of Prague Spring 2026. If you wish to experience the production that has already brought audiences to their feet in New York (New York Philharmonic), Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Paris (Radio France), Montreal, London, Rome (Santa Cecilia) and Munich, come to the Rudolfinum on 26 May for La Voix humaine with Barbara Hannigan.