What is Mahatma Gandhi’s influence on the contemporary political world? This is the question explored by Philip Glass’s opera Satyagraha (1980), the second in his trilogy devoted to historical figures, alongside Einstein on the Beach (1976) and Akhnaten (1984).

This work, with its mesmerizing music, interweaves timelines, relating each of its three acts to a key figure linked to Gandhi in order to better understand the genesis of his political thought: Leo Tolstoy, with whom he corresponded; the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who supported him; and Martin Luther King, who was inspired by his principles of non-violence. This is the first time the Paris Opera has presented this brilliant work.