Report from the 1 July 2022
OPÉRA D'ÉTÉ 2022
For eight years now, the Paris Opera has been offering each summer the free broadcast of opera and ballet shows captured at the Palais Garnier or the Opéra Bastille outdoors and/or in adapted heritage sites, in partnership with municipalities or departments.
This original and popular distribution mode of performances from the Paris Opera repertoire comes with special quality requirements (surround sound 5.1, High Definition image).
From June to September 2022, municipalities and departments offer to their residents and vacationers the broadcast of one or more of these four shows, free of charge: two operas, Aïda by Giuseppe Verdi and Faust by Charles Gounod and two ballets, Le Parc by Angelin Preljocaj and Romeo and Juliet by Rudolf Nureyev.
Faust
Opera in five acts (1859)
Music: Charles Gounod
Director: Tobias Kratzer
Conductor: Lorenzo Viotti
Paris Opera Orchestra and Choruses
featuring Benjamin Bernheim (Faust), Christian Van Horn (Mephistophélès), Florian Sempey (Valentin), Christian Helmer (Wagner), Ermonela Jaho (Marguerite), Michèle Losier (Siebel), Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo (Dame Marthe), Jean-Yves Chilot (Faust âgé)
about the production:
“I want a treasure which contains them all! I want youth!” Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite…Reworking the legend popularised by Goethe, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. Choosing to lighten the narrative’s philosophical scope allows him to strike a balance between scenes where the supernatural calls for the visually spectacular and others depicting a universe governed by inward actions and feelings.
Transposed to the present day, Tobias Kratzer’s Faust reflects on contemporary society’s obsession with eternal youth. His production’s sophisticated scenography oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, between the world of today and the mysterious atmosphere of German romanticism.
Duration: 2 hours 55 minutes - Film director: Julien Condemine - Recorded on March 19th and 22th 2021
A coproduction Opéra national de Paris and Cinétévé, with the participation of France Télévisions. With the exceptional support of de Rolex - Timepiece of the Paris Opera, and the support of the patrons of the Cercle Berlioz, the CNC and Fondation Orange - Sponsor of audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera. © Opéra national de Paris – Cinétévé - 2021
Aïda
Opera in four acts (1871)
Music: Giuseppe Verdi
Director: Lotte De Beer
Conductor: Michele Mariotti
Paris Opera Orchestra and Choruses
featuring Soloman Howard (Il Re), Ksenia Dudnikova (Amneris), Sondra Radvanovsky (Aïda), Jonas Kaufmann (Rdames), Dmitry Belosselskiy (Ramfis), Ludovic Tézier (Amonasro), Alessandro Liberatore (Un Messaggero), Roberta Mantegna (Sacerdotessa).
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION:
First performed at the Cairo Opera in 1871, Aida draws us into the fantasy of a reconstructed Antiquity. At the heart of the plot, an impossible choice between love and patriotic duty: a captive Ethiopian princess and an Egyptian soldier betray their people, defy a powerful rival and unite until death.
Marked by the contrast between a theatrical extravaganza and the transition towards a more intimate, personal drama, Verdi’s score manages to distinguish the inner angst of its protagonists from the imposing historical setting. The work brings together several themes dear to the composer: nostalgia for a lost homeland, deliverance through death, the contrast between a dispiriting present and an idealized elsewhere, the stifling reach of religious and political power, the regulating factors in a world intentionally littered with pitfalls.
For her Paris Opera debut, Dutch director Lotte de Beer has chosen to cast a critical eye on the European portrayal of colonised peoples, encouraging us to rethink our relationship with aesthetic productions of the past and present.
Duration: 2 hours 55 minutes - Film director: François-René Martin - Recorded on February 15th and 18th 2021
A coproduction Opéra national de Paris, ARTE France and Telmondis, with the support of the CNC and the Fondation Orange - Sponsor of audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera © Opéra national de Paris – ARTE France - Telmondis – 2021
Le Parc
Choreography: Angelin Preljocaj
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
featuring Alice Renavand, Mathieu Ganio
and the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet
Paris Opera Orchestra
Conductor: Benjamin Shwartz
Piano: Elena Bonnay
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
In this piece specifically created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1994, the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj finds a subtle balance between the classical genius of Mozart’s music and the modernity of his choreographic language. The perfectly chiseled sets evoke the elegance and refinement of a French‑style garden while the costumes draw inspiration from the Age of Enlightenment.
Advancing to the caprices of an imaginary Carte du Tendre and guided by strange gardeners, the dancers awaken to love, from first encounters to seduction, from timidity to attraction, from resistance to the sweet appeal of abandon in sublimely soaring “pas de deux”. Even today, this timeless work continues to explore the codes of love and the way human feelings develop.
Duration: 1 hour 35 minutes - Film director: Louise Narboni - Recorded on March 9th and 11th 2021
A coproduction Opéra national de Paris and Telmondis, with the participation of France Télévisions and the NHK. With the support of the CNC and of the Fondation Orange - Sponsor of audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2021
Roméo et Juliette
Ballet in three acts after William Shakespeare
Choreography I Direction: Rudolf Noureev
Music: Serguei Prokofiev
featuring Myriam Ould-Braham (Juliet), Mathias Heymann (Romeo), Stéphane Bullion (Tybalt), Francesco Mura (Mercutio), Marc Moreau (Benvolio), Hannah O'Neill (Rosaline)
and the Paris Opera Corps de Ballet
Paris Opera Orchestra
Conductor : Vello Pähn
About the PRODUCTION
In this production created for the Opera Ballet in 1984, Rudolf Nureyev opted for powerful dramatization. Splendour and violence, truculence and beauty mingle, rekindling the passion of Shakespeare’s drama.
Scrupulously adhering to Prokofiev’s score, itself very close to the play, the choreographer produced a version of Romeo and Juliet in which “the young boy becomes a man” opposite a passionate Juliet who, barely out of childhood, also tragically enters womanhood. Their love cannot be openly declared, as their respective families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are locked into an ancestral feud...
Inspired by the Italian Renaissance, the sumptuous sets and costumes by Ezio Frigerio and Mauro Pagano transport us to a painstakingly recreated Verona.
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes - Film director: Nathan Benisty - Recorded on July 3rd and 6th 2021
A coproduction Opéra national de Paris and La Belle Télé, with the participation of France Télévisions. With the support of the CNC, the Fondation Orange - Sponsor of audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera, and of Chanel, Patron of the Paris Opera Ballet. © Opéra national de Paris – La Belle Télé – 2021
Calendar
Alpes-Maritimes (06)
Le Parc at the Théâtre Robinson, Mandelieu-La Napoule (18 July 2022)
Aida at the Théâtre Robinson, Mandelieu-La Napoule (15 August 2022)
Faust on the Place de la Castre, Suquet - Cannes (28 August 2022)
Bouches-du-Rhône (13)
Romeo and Juliet at the Parc Athéna, Marseille (9 Sept. 2022)Le Parc at the Château d’Avignon, Saintes-Marie de la Mer (17 Sept. 2022)
Cantal (15)
Faust at the Château de Longevialle, Val d'Acormie (6 August 2022)
Romeo and Juliet at the Château d'Anjony, Tournemire (14 August 2022)
Finistère (29)
Aida at the Théâtre Georges Madec, Esquibien-Audierne (20 July 2022)
Romeo and Juliet at the Théâtre Georges Madec, Esquibien-Audierne (10 August 2022)
Meurthe-et-Moselle (54)
Romeo and Juliet at the Salle des Fêtes de l'Hôtel de Ville, Villerupt (15 July 2022)
Morbihan (56)
Le Parc at the Domaine de Kerguéhennec (7 July 2022)
Pas-de-Calais (62)
Romeo and Juliet at the Château d'Hardelot (19 August 2022)
Paris (75)
Play at La Villette (21 July 2022)
Hauts-de-Seine (92)
Le Parc at the Seine musicale (16 July 2022)
Aida at the Seine musicale (le 17 July 2022)
Val-de-Marne (94)
Le Parc at the Parc des Bordes, Chennevières-sur-Marne (9 July 2022)
Romeo and Juliet at the Parc de la Plage bleue, Valenton (16 July 2022)