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Glass - Satyagraha, at the Opéra Garnier in Paris

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Palais Garnier, Paris, Thursday April 16 2026 Conductor: Ingo Metzmacher. Production and choreography: Bobbi Jene Smith, Christian Friedländer. Sets: Wojciech Dziedzic. Costumes: John Torres. Lighting: Jacob Mallinson Bird. Countertenor: Anthony Roth Costanzo. Soprano: Ilanah Lobel-Torres. Baritone: Davóne Tines. Alto: Adriana Bignagni Lesca. Soprano: Olivia Boen. Mezzo-soprano: Deepa Johnny. Baritone: Amin Ahangaran. Tenor: Nicky Spence. Bass: Nicolas Cavallier. Dancers: Alexander Bozinoff, Lorrin Brubaker, Jeremy Coachman, Jonathan Fredrickson, Marion Gautier de Charnacé, Awa Joannais, Héloïse Jocqueviel, Payton Johnson, Rachel McNamee, Mermoz Melchior, Adrien Ouaki, Ido Toledano. Orchestra and Chorus Of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: © Yonathan Kellerman ‘Je n’ai rien compris. Mais c’était sublime’ - I didn’t understand a thing, but it was sublime. So said a friend as we waited for the métro after Satyagraha . Overhearing him, a woman a few yards away looked up from rummaging ...
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Bach - St Matthew Passion (Matthäuspassion, Passion selon Saint Matthieu) at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées

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Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday April 3 2026. Conductor: Thibault Noally. Soprano I: Amandine Sanchez. Soprano II: Apolline Raï-Westphal. Soprano III: Clémence Olivier. Alto I: William Shelton. Alto II: Mathilde Ortscheidt. Alto III: Morgane Boudeville. Tenor I (Evangelist): Valerio Contaldo. Tenor II: David Tricou. Tenor III: Gaël Martin. Baritone (Christ): Alexandre Baldo. Bass I: Sebastian Noack. Bass II: Matthieu Walendzik. Bass III: Jérémie Delvert. Les Ambassadeurs-La Grande Écurie. Photo: Wikimedia Commons I hadn't heard a Matthäuspassion since Ton Koopman conducted a performance at the Châtelet over 20 years ago, so I bought tickets for this one, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées.   It was a mistake.  If I really wanted a Saint Matthew, I should no doubt have gone the night before to Versailles, where Raphaël Pichon had Julian Prégardien as his Evangelist and Stéphane Degout, no less, as Jesus. But the night before I had Belgian guests to feed.   ...
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Mozart - Idomeneo, re di Creta, at La Monnaie in Brussels

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La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday March 22 2026 Conductor: Enrico Onofri. Production: Calixto Bieito. Sets: Anna-Sofia Kirsch. Costumes: Paula Kleiné. Lighting: Reinhard Traub/Calixto Bieito. Vidéo: Adrià Reixach. Idomeneo: Joshua Stewart. Idamante: Gaëlle Arquez. Ilia: Shira Patchornik. Elettra: Kathryn Lewek. Gran Sacerdote di Nettuno: Michael J. Scott. La Voce: Frederic Jost. Cretesi e Troiani: Manon Poskin, Nadiia Lys, Taeksung Kwon, Byoungjin Lee. Orchestra and chorus of La Monnaie. Photos: © S. Van Rompay/La Monnaie Calixto Bieito is, so I read, well pleased with how his production of Idomeneo (a co-production with the State Opera in Prague, where it premiered last year), turned out: a dream. His intention, so I also read, was to approach the work as a psychological study of the traumatic after-effects of war on those who’ve waged it, and on their relationships with their family and entourage. The backdrop to this mental landscape, meanwhile, is a fluctuating memory of the sea, where...
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Adams - Nixon in China, at the Opéra Bastille in Paris

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ONP Bastille, Paris, Friday March 20 2026 Conductor: Kent Nagano. Production: Valentina Carrasco. Sets: Carles Berga, Peter Van Praet. Lighting: Peter Van Praet. Costumes: Silvia Aymonino. Richard Nixon: Thomas Hampson. Pat Nixon: Renée Fleming. Zhou Enlai: Xiaomeng Zhang. Mao Zedong: John Matthew Myers. Henry Kissinger: Joshua Bloom. Chiang Ch'ing: Caroline Wettergreen. Nancy Tang: Aebh Kelly. Second Secretary: Ning Liang. Third Secretary: Emanuela Pascu. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: © Vincent Pontet – OnP I saw, enjoyed, and described in some detail this production of Nixon in China during its first run, in 2023. Now it’s back, with very nearly the same cast as before, the only exceptions being that Norwegian soprano Caroline Wettergreen has taken over as Chiang Ch'ing, and Irish mezzo Aebh Kelly as Nancy Tang. More importantly, this time Kent Nagano is conducting, rather than our short-lived former music director Dudamel. This is like night ...
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Matthias Pintscher - Nuit sans aube (Das kalte Herz): French premiere, at the Opéra Comique in Paris

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Opéra Comique (Salle Favart), Paris, Tuesday March 17, 2026 Conductor: Matthias Pintscher. Production: James Darrah Black. Sets: Adam Rigg. Costumes: Molly Irelan. Lighting: Yi Zhao. Vidéo: Hana Kim. Peter: Evan Hughes. Anubis: Marie-Adeline Henry. Mère: Katarina Bradić. Clara: Catherine Trottmann. Vieille femme: Julie Robard-Gendre. Azaël: Hélène Alexandridis. Enfant: Elias Passard. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Photos © Stéphane Brion ‘Un bon opéra c'est d'abord un bon livret,’ i.e. a good opera starts with a good libretto. Discuss. So as not to die an idiot, as the French saying goes, I try to have a couple of new operas lined up every season. The policy has served me quite well: more often than not, the experience turns out to be rewarding. My first discovery this season, Matthias Pintscher’s Nuit sans aube at the Opéra Comique, was, for once, less so, and I think the main reason was that the text (you could hardly call it a ‘plot’) failed to engage my interest...
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Tchaikovsky - Eugene Onegin (Eugène Onéguine) at the Opéra Garnier in Paris

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Opéra Garnier, Paris, Wednesday February 18 2026 Conductor: Case Scaglione. Production: Ralph Fiennes. Sets: Michael Levine. Costumes: Annemarie Woods. Lighting: Alessandro Carletti. Choreography: Sophie Laplane. Onegin: Boris Pinkhasovich. Tatiana: Ruzan Mantashyan. Lensky: Bogdan Volkov. Olga: Marvic Monreal. Prince Gremin: Alexander Tsymbalyuk. Larina: Susan Graham. Filipievna: Elena Zaremba. Monsieur Triquet: Peter Bronder. Zaretski: Amin Ahangaran. Commander: Mikhail Silantev. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra national de Paris. Photos: © Guergana Damianova - OnP A handful of quotes to start the ball rolling: ‘Moderation is a fatal thing, Lady Hunstanton. Nothing succeeds like excess.’ (Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance.) ‘Le grand ennemi de l’art, c’est le bon goût’ (art’s greatest enemy is good taste). (Marcel Duchamp.) ‘C’est plat’ (as in ‘platitude’). My neighbour at the first interval. ‘J’adore cette partition. Qu’est-ce qu’on s’est ennuyé !’ (I love this score. Were we...
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Janáček - The Makropoulos Case (Věc Makropulos), at the Lille Opera

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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...
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