Hawaii Opera Theatre and Poulenc’s "Dialogues of the Carmelites" are almost the same age: "Dialogues" premiered in 1957, HOT in 1961. In the half-century since, HOT has performed "Dialogues" only this once, making it Hawaii’s premiere.

"Dialogues" follows young, innocent Blanche from living fearfully, to finding courage in faith, to giving her life for her beliefs. Blanche may be the lead character, but the real focus of the story is its historic context — the beheading of 16 Carmelite nuns during the French Revolution.

Poulenc’s setting is a true ensemble work: Blanche doesn’t even have her own aria (where is her epiphany? her death scene?). This is a work of faith; the great moments are not about individuals but about religion, conveyed through oratory and hymns.

Director Karen Tiller and head of music Beebe Freitas have assembled a uniformly strong ensemble cast to match their characters. They sang with large, clear voices that delivered the text beautifully, and had distinctive vocal timbres that conveyed their individuality. Of particular note were the five female leads: Victoria Livengood (Madame de Croissy), Kristin Stone (Sister Constance), Diane Alexander (Madame Lidoine), Amanda Hall (Blanche) and Katherine Ciesinski (Mother Marie).

Poulenc perfectly melded vocal and instrumental lines to create a "soundscape" that listeners experience as an integrated whole. To ensure audiences understood the text, he famously mandated that "Dialogues" be sung in the vernacular of wherever it is performed, and HOT presents it in English, with supertitles.

Working with a large orchestra, conductor Christopher Larkin elicited an expressively nuanced reading that brought the text to life without ever overpowering the singers, and the HOT Chorus, prepared by chorus director Nola Nahulu, delivered some of the most beautiful passages of the evening.

Throughout, "Dialogues" is a work of surprises. Despite having been composed mid-20th century, the music is beautiful, accessible and expressive; despite lyrical moments, "Dialogues" is fundamentally accompanied recitative; despite its almost 3 1/2-hour length, it has a very tight libretto; despite the somber tone, it is moving.

"Dialogues" lends itself to minimalist staging, and designer Peter Dean Beck, costumer Helen E. Rodgers and wig/makeup designer Sue Sittko Schaefer have created a lovely setting with muted colors; scaffolding with screens painted to hint at arches, columns and walls; and panels colored by lights. Simple, elegant and yet also superfluous — there because the genre demands.

"Dialogues" is a deeply religious, philosophical work, which puts it outside the realm of our feel-good popular culture. Designed for internal reflection rather than standing ovations, it is about overcoming fear and standing up for your principles, about the comfort and power of faith.

The closing "Salve Regina" chorus is gripping, as the nuns ascend the scaffold one by one by one. As their voices are silenced, their hymn grows louder, taken up by the townsfolk.

Poulenc’s work is aptly named: It is quite literally a series of "dialogues," presented in multiple scenes with occasional preludes, a structure that is less opera than oratorio, less oratorio than sung play. That confusion of genre, combined with a subject matter that does not lend itself to wild applause, leaves audiences unsure whether and when to applaud (does one applaud beheadings?).

No matter — silence works as well as applause, and there is ample opportunity at the end to express appreciation.