An epic white whale hunt, from Melville's Moby Dick , comes to life in a concert-fiction blending orchestral surge, sound effects and breathless narration.
When young Ismaël embarks as a sailor on the Péquod, he has no idea what awaits him: the mad pursuit of a tyrannical captain in search of the whale that bit off his leg... A France Culture creation, freely adapted by Stéphane Michaka.
The Request
Following an initial run of performances in October 2019 at the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique (Paris), the Opéra National de Lyon entered into an agreement with Radio France Studios to stage the fictional concert created by France Culture at its venue with its own orchestra.
Our Solution
- Broadcast of the fictional concert in Lyon on May 6 and 7, 2026
- Adaptation of the show to the venue’s specific characteristics, featuring a new orchestra
Note from the adapter, Stéphane Michaka
For this radio adaptation, I focused on the most conflict-driven scenes and others more conducive to reverie. Melville is one of the great—perhaps the greatest—of the American Romantics, and the nineteenth century has taught us that reverie is inseparable from the life force. The fifteen scenes I have adapted and translated from the original form, in my view, the tragic and dreamlike core of the novel. They can offer only a glimpse of the sheer scale of Melville’s novel. But a symphony orchestra; a young composer haunted by Romanticism; a troupe weathered by the onslaught of orchestral waves… What more could one wish for to make the heartbeat of the White Whale heard?
