We left at the interval...

ONP Garnier, Paris, Thursday January 23, 2025 Conductor: Teodor Currentzis. Production: Peter Sellars. Sets: Joelle Aoun. Costumes: Camille Assaf. Lighting: James F. Ingalls. Choreography: Cal Hunt. Video: Alex MacInnis. Télaïre: Jeanine De Bique. Castor: Reinoud Van Mechelen. Pollux: Marc Mauillon. Phébé: Stéphanie d'Oustrac. Mars, Jupiter, un athlète: Nicholas Newton. Minerve, Une Suivante d’Hébé: Claire Antoine. L’Amour, Le Grand-Prêtre, un Athlète: Laurence Kilsby. Vénus, une ombre heureuse: Natalia Smirnova. Utopia Orchestra and Chorus.    Photos: Vincent Pontet/OnP   I’m on a sort of Rameau binge at the moment. Since enjoying Les Fêtes d’Hébé just before Christmas, I’ve been reading his biographies, first in French, by Sylvie Bouissou, editor-in-chief of the Rameau Opera Omnia project, which is producing critical editions of all his works in partnership with Bärenreiter, and now in English, by Simon Trowbridge, who, being less of a specialist, focuses slightly mo...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday October 13 2014 Conductor: Hervé Niquet. Production: Christian Schiaretti. Choreography: Andonis Foniadakis. Sets: Rudy Sabounghi. Costumes: Thibaut Welchlin. Lighting: Laurent Castaingt. Castor: John Tessier. Pollux: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Télaïre: Omo Bello. Phœbé: Michèle Losier. Jupiter: Jean Teitgen. Mercure, un spartiate, un athlète: Reinoud van Mechelen. Cléone, une ombre heureuse: Hasnaa Bennani. Un grand prêtre: Marc Labonnette. Le Concert Spirituel. Rameau Nothing new, of course, but it’s still funny how widely opinions on opera differ, making you wonder if there’s any value in reading or hearing anyone else’s. As I left the Théâtre des Champs Elysées last night, one friend I ran into exclaimed “I hated every minute!” But another simply said “On ne va pas bouder son plaisir” – literally “We aren’t going to pout (or pull faces) at our pleasure”, meaning even if the evening hadn’t been perfect, it would be fastidious deliberat...