We left at the interval...

Opéra de Lille, France, Monday February 16 2026 Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies. Production: Kornél Mundruczó, reprised by Marcos Darbyshire. Sets and Costumes: Monika Pormale. Lighting: Felice Ross. Emilia Marty: Aušrinė Stundytė. Albert Gregor: Denys Pivnitskyi. Jaroslav Prus: Robin Adams. Dr Kolenatý: Jan Hnyk. Vítek: Paul Kaufmann. Krista: Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur. Janek: Florian Panzieri. Hauk-Schendorf: Jean-Paul Fouchécourt. Maid: Mathilde Legrand. Stage Technician: Jocelyn Riche. Chorus of the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen. Orchestre National de Lille. Photos: Frédéric Iovino/Opéra de Lille   I initially bought tickets for this Lille production of The Makropoulos Case because Véronique Gens was cast as Emilia. A favourite work, by a favourite composer, with a singer whose take on the role was one I was interested in witnessing - and in a town I like. I booked seats for the final performance, the only one compatible with my diary, then went through the usual rigmarole onlin...

ONP Bastille, Tuesday October 17 2023. Conductor: Susanna Mälkki. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes: Małgorzata Szczęśniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video: Denis Guéguin. Emilia Marty: Karita Mattila. Albert Gregor: Pavel Černoch. Vitek: Nicholas Jones. Krista: Ilanah Lobel-Torres. Jaroslav Prus: Johan Reuter. Janek: Cyrille Dubois. Kolenaty: Károly Szemerédy. Hauk-Sendorf: Peter Bronder. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos © Bernd Uhlig / Opéra national de Paris   Janacek is, without a doubt, one of my favourite composers, Makropoulos is one of my favourite operas, and Warlikowski's production of this fascinating and moving work is one of both his and the Paris Opera's best. I saw it in 2007 (see this initial report for a description of the production), 2009 and 2013, yet it has remained curiously elusive online, and given the Paris house's capricious tendency to discard its productions ( Warlikowski's memorable Parsifal neve...

ONP Bastille, Wednesday October 2 2013 Leos Janacek and his wife Conductor: Susanna Mälkki. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes: Malgorzata Szczesniak. Video: Denis Guéguin. Lighting: Felice Ross. Emilia Marty: Ricarda Merbeth. Albert Gregor: Atilla Kiss-b. Jaroslav Prus: Vincent Le Texier. Dr Kolenaty: Jochen Schmeckenbecher. Vítek: Andreas Conrad. Krista: Andrea Hill. Janek: Ladislav Elgr. Hauk-Šendorf: Ryland Davies. Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus. When I bought tickets for this revival of Paris's great Makropoulos Affair , I hoped that, this being the last night in the run of eight, the atmosphere might be supercharged. It wasn't and I was almost disappointed. Not by the visually stunning production, still stunning (and intelligent) though I was seeing it for the fourth time. (My previous reports date from 2007 and 2009 ). But Vincent Le Texier has lost a degree of power, Ryland Davies, though still charming as Hauk, is nearly inaudible, and the...

ONP Bastille, Thursday May 7 2009 Conductor: Tomas Hanus. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes Malgorzata Szczesniak. Emilia Marty: Angela Denoke. Albert Gregor: Charles Workman. Jaroslav Prus: Vincent Le Texier. Vítek: David Kuebler. Krista: Karine Deshayes. Janek : Ales Briscein. Kolenaty: Wayne Tigges. Hauk-Sendorf: Ryland Davies. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photo from the 2023 revival, Bernd Uhlig/Opéra national de Paris Same excellent, powerful production as in 2007 , same cast except Wayne Tigges as Kolenaty (and very good he was), and Angela Denoke the best I've ever seen and heard her. She really lives the part. The orchestra remains unruly in Janacek, David Kuebler's voice is now pretty much shot and Charles Workman can't hit the killer top notes at all any more, but Vincent Le Texier and, especially, Karine Deshayes were better than ever. Bastille about one quarter full: madness, but perhaps those who were there really w...

Photo: Mamali Shafahi ONP Bastille, Tuesday May 8, Monday May 14 2007 Conductor: Tomas Hanus. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes Malgorzata Szczesniak. Emilia Marty: Angela Denoke. Albert Gregor: Charles Workman. Jaroslav Prus: Vincent Le Texier. Vítek: David Kuebler. Krista: Karine Deshayes. Janek: Ales Briscein. Kolenaty: Paul Gay. Hauk-Sendorf: Ryland Davies. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Having seen this show once, we decided to go back and see it again for two reasons: first, it was such a good production that we wanted to take a (literally) closer look at the details; second, the performance on May 8 was musically ropier than I expected after reading rave reviews (chaotic orchestra with several wrong entries, some cracked notes on stage...) and we wanted to see if we'd just hit an off night. Musically, May 14 was an improvement: the orchestra, though still occasionally unruly, was better-disciplined and the singers wer...