Aleksi Barrière

Aleksi Barrière is a French-Finnish writer and stage director born in 1989, known for his work in the field of contemporary music and opera. He was a close collaborator of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, most notably on her final opera Innocence.[1]

Directing

A graduate of the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague,[2] Barrière is the founder of La Chambre aux échos, a music theatre collective based in Paris.[3] The collective has premiered multiple new works under Barrière's direction and offered new readings of classics of the 20th century, including Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Hanns Eisler, Luciano Berio, and Hans Werner Henze.[4] Their performances have been presented to critical acclaim in opera houses and festivals in France, Finland, and multiple other European countries, including at the Finnish National Opera,[5] the Bergen International Festival,[6] and the Venice Music Biennale.[7] La Chambre aux échos has also produced a feature film that is in 2025 in post-production.[8]

Barrière has been a guest director among others at the Hamburg State Opera[9][10], Tokyo Bunka Kaikan[11], Trap Door Theatre in Chicago,[12][13] and Mannes School of Music,[14] specializing in the creation of new works and considering "collaboration with contemporary composers to be a key element in his work".[3] For Stockholm's Folkoperan he has directed the world premiere of Bogoluchie by Đuro Živković in 2024, praised by Swedish press as "a suggestive and fascinating piece about a broken time".[15]

Libretti

Barrière has written the libretti to multiple operas and musical works, working with composers such as Juha T. Koskinen (including Violences and Earthrise at the Finnish National Opera in 2019 and 2024),[5][16] Diana Syrse (starting with Connected Identities for the Los Angeles Philharmonic,[17] dubbed "one of the highlights of its CDMX Festival" in 2017),[18] and Outi Tarkiainen (Day of Night, to be premiered at Aalto Theatre in Essen and Finnish National Opera in 2027).[19] His works often take a multilingual form, especially as a tool of intercultural dialogue, and explore contemporary dramaturgies.[20]

He has collaborated on multiple projects with composer Kaija Saariaho, including the song cycle True Fire, the "science-fiction madrigal" Reconnaissance (and multiple other choral works),[21] and the opera Innocence, in which he was involved alongside Sofi Oksanen as co-librettist in charge of the dramaturgy and multilingual libretto.[22] Reconnaissance has been called "a great 21st-century choral piece",[23] "the most important choral work composed on this side of the turn of the millennium",[24] and went on to win a Grammy Award.[25] Innocence, a choral examination of the aftermath of a school shooting, was described as Saariaho's "masterpiece" by The New York Times,[26] and "a monumental achievement, bold and profoundly responsive to contemporary life" by The Guardian.[27]

The influence of Barrière's input has been noted as a major component of Saariaho's last compositional period by scholars.[28] Saariaho's final work, the trumpet concerto HUSH (2023), is based on a text written by Barrière.[29]

Translations and other work

Barrière is the French translator of the collected writings of composer-director Heiner Goebbels,[30] "a reference book that belongs in every library".[31] A specialist of interdisciplinary creation, he has produced academic research on director Peter Sellars,[32][33] contributed to The Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Western Art,[34] lectured on the subject at the University of Chicago[35] and the Académie des Beaux-Arts,[36] and written articles for the Paris Opera, for record labels such as Warner Classics and BIS, and various musical publications.[37][38][39]

His translation work into French also includes Jack London's short story "To Build a Fire" in both its versions[40] and a critical edition of two poetry collections by Eeva-Liisa Manner.[41]

Family

Barrière is the son of composers Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barrière.

References

  1. ^ Riding, Alan; Dunton-Downer, Leslie (2022). Opera: The Definitive Illustrated Story. London: DK Publishing. pp. 338–339. ISBN 978-0241515822.
  2. ^ Barrière, Alexandre (2012). Mirth and matter understanding and staging of The Witch of Edmonton (Master's thesis). Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. hdl:10318/7433.
  3. ^ a b Särkiö-Pitkänen, Auli (June 2019). "Creativity in dialogue". Finnish Music Quarterly. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  4. ^ "La Chambre aux échos".
  5. ^ a b Hottinen, Merja (February 2019). "FMQ – Crossing the ocean – Musica nova Helsinki 2019". Finnish Music Quarterly. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  6. ^ Maroni Jensen, Bodil (12 July 2017). "Kaija Saariaho, this year's Festival Composer in Bergen". musikkjournalistikk.no. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  7. ^ Mattietti, Gianluigi (2021-09-28). "Only the Sound Remains di Kaija Saariaho a Venezia". Il Corriere Musicale (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  8. ^ Marseillaise, Matilda (2025-01-30). "Multilingual librettist Aleksi Barrière chats to us about the opera Innocence coming to Adelaide Festival 2025". Matilda Marseillaise. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  9. ^ Ullmann, Katrin (12 May 2018). "Von Seeungeheuern und Sirenengesängen". taz (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  10. ^ Obens, Detlef (5 May 2018). "Staatsoper Hamburg: Das Floß – Beeindruckende Uraufführung am 4.5.2018 in der opera stabile". Das Opernmagazin (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  11. ^ Todo, Kiyoshi (6 June 2021). "オペラ『Only the Sound Remains －余韻－』". Mercure des Arts (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  12. ^ Davis, Jacob (April 2018). "Letter of Love (The Fundamentals of Judo) reviewed by Jacob Davis". Around the Town Chicago.
  13. ^ Smith, Taryn (2018-03-24). "Trap Door Theatre Presents Letter of Love (The Fundamentals of Judo) Review: A Bold, Inspiring Avant-garde Show". Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  14. ^ Russo, Rebecca. "Mannes School of Music presents Kaija Saariaho's La Passion de Simone". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  15. ^ Paulsson, Johanna (January 20, 2024). "Suggestivt och fascinerande om en trasig tid". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  16. ^ Kallio, Jari Juhani (2024-10-20). "Compelling music theater in concentric layers of dream – Earthrise premiere concludes the Helsinki Early Music Festival". AIM – Adventures in Music. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  17. ^ "Critic's Notebook: At the L.A. Phil's CDMX festival, it's the women who point the way forward". Los Angeles Times. 2017-10-18. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  18. ^ Swed, Mark (October 31, 2017). "Review: A Venezuelan life force for the Master Chorale's Day of the Dead program". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 21, 2025.
  19. ^ Salazar, Francisco (11 February 2025). "Aalto Theatre in Essen & the Finnish National Opera Announces World Premiere Day of Night". OperaWire. Retrieved 2022-11-21.
  20. ^ Grundy, David (7 September 2023). "Violence, trauma and polyphony: Saariaho's Innocence comes to Amsterdam". Bachtrack. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  21. ^ "Mini Operas: the choral works of Kaija Saariaho and Aleksi Barrière". wisemusicclassical.com. Wise Music Group. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  22. ^ Saariaho, Kaija (2019). "Composer's Note". Kaija Saariaho. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  23. ^ Meneses, Esteban (2023-07-07). "Reconnaissance Illuminates the Alluring Vocal Music of Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023)". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  24. ^ Barker, David (2023-07-13). "Saariaho: Reconnaissance (BIS)". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  25. ^ "Grammys 2024: Winners List". The New York Times. 2024-02-04. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  26. ^ Woolfe, Zachary (2021-07-07). "Review: A Composer Creates Her Masterpiece With Innocence". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  27. ^ Byrne, Tim (2025-03-01). "Innocence review – monumental achievement shows how essential opera can be". The Guardian. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  28. ^ Foglia, Clara (2025-06-03). "Saariaho, Kaija Anneli". DEUMM (Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti) Online (in Italian). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  29. ^ Lunn, Ben. "Best of 2023: Contemporary classical music". Morning Star. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  30. ^ Goebbels, Heiner (2024). Contre l'œuvre d'art totale (in French). Translated by Barrière, Aleksi; Kranabetter, Isabelle. Paris: Philharmonie de Paris. ISBN 979-10-94642-79-5.
  31. ^ Rosset, Christian (15 January 2025). "Terrain vague (33) – Tour de ficelle (Daive, Royet-Journoud, Veinstein / H. Goebbels)". Diakritik (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  32. ^ Barrière, Aleksi (2013). "Théâtre musical, théâtre de la musique. La rencontre de Kaija Saariaho et Peter Sellars". Tempus Perfectum (11). Lyon: Symétrie: 25–32.
  33. ^ "Lumière et musique : appropriations, métaphores et analogies". iremus.cnrs.fr. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  34. ^ Barrière, Aleksi; Barrière, Jean-Baptiste (2016). "When Music Unfolds into Image". In Kaduri, Yael (ed.). The Oxford Book of Sound and Image in Western Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 83–106. ISBN 978-0199841547.
  35. ^ "Feb 19: Aleksi Barrière, "Form Ecology: A Tool for Interdisciplinary Research and Creation" – Theater & Performance Studies". voices.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  36. ^ "Conférences – Composer un opéra au XXIe siècle" (in French). Académie des Beaux-Arts. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  37. ^ Barrière, Aleksi (2015-12-18). "Théâtre musical : le creuset nordique". Classicagenda (in French). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  38. ^ "Aleksi Barrière". rondo.fi. Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  39. ^ "Aleksi Barrière". seismograf.org (in Danish). Retrieved 2025-11-21.
  40. ^ London, Jack (2022). Monter un feu (versions de 1902 et 1910) (in French). Translated by Barrière, Aleksi. Paris: L'extrême contemporain. ISBN 9782493333001.
  41. ^ Manner, Eeva-Liisa (2024). Voiliers fuyez à voiles légères + Les eaux mortes (in French). Translated by Barrière, Aleksi. Paris: L'extrême contemporain. ISBN 9782493333179.
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