Laurent Petitgirard is known mainly as a composer of orchestral works, including concertos, symphonic poems and film scores, and as a composer. Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man, his first opera, depicts the tragic story of Joseph Merrick, who was born with horrifying deformities and exploited both as a freak show exhibit and as a medical curiosity. Petitgirard’s compelling and moving score – the composer’s melodic gift is very much his own – shows us Merrick at different stages of his tragic life until his death aged 27 in 1890. Written in 1998, Petitgirard’s opera is bound to draw comparisons with David Lynch’s cult film. However, it offers an entirely different perspective on the tale of Joseph Merrick, born in 1863 with horrific deformities, exhibited as a freak at the circus, taken in by Dr. Treves at the London Hospital and subsequently afforded celebrity status. Where the film is based largely on Dr. Treves’ memoirs, the opera is based on biographies of Joseph Merrick giving his character a more central focus than in the film. `Petitgirard´s musical vocabulary reflects his French heritage -- the influences of Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc and Satie are evident -- but his subtlety, melodic gift and sensitivity to the drama make him well-equipped to inherit the mantle and create his own outstandingly original idiom. … No doubt [the opera] would prove even more powerful on stage than on disc.´ Opera News, 2001. `With [Stutzmann’s] voluptuous, strangely genderless contralto, she´s often powerfully affecting and there are fine performances from Robert Breault, Nicolas Rivenq and Marie Devellereau as Merrick´s persecutors and rescuers.´ The Guardian.