Opéra Royal De Versailles News
Opera house of the Palace of Versailles, France
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2024-04-25
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2020-12-23 15:05:14
Awaiting re-discovery: Grétry Richard Coeur-de-lion returning to Versailles for the first time since 1789 proves to be a work of charm and imagination
Grétry Richard Coeur-de-lion; Rémy Mathieu, Enguerrand de Hys, Melody Louledjian, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Marie Perbost, Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet, Marshall Pynkoski; Chateau de Versailles Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 23 December 2020 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★) Grétry's opera comique returns to Versailles after 250 years and proves to combine charm and imaginationWhat do George Frideric Handel, André Grétry, Gioacchino Rossini, Sir Arthur Sullivan and Stephen Oliver have in common? Richard the Lionheart is perhaps not the first character you would associate with this diverse bunch of composers, but all wrote musical theatre works about King Richard I of England, though in Sullivan's Ivanhoe Richard is not the protagonist and Rossini's Ivanhoé is somewhat special pleading as the work is a pasticcio written with his consent but not participation.Handel's Riccardo I was his first opera to be premiered after he became a naturalised British citizen and treats a […]
2019-01-09 09:01:23
Tenth anniversary: Opéra royal de Versailles celebrates 10 years since the theatre was restored and returned to use
The Opéra royal de Versailles (© Thomas Garnier) The Opéra royal de Versailles is currently celebrating the tenth anniversary of the theatre's restoration with a season which includes one of the first Italian operas ever to be performed in France, Requiems for both King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, and Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme with Lully's original musical interludes, as well as the launch of a record label.Despite having a keen interest in opera, King Louis XIV never quite got round to creating a permanent opera house at Versailles, plans to do so were overtaken by the building of the chapel and by the time there was scope to do so, the king's interest in opera and large scale dramatic events had waned as the court became more religious. It would not be until later in the reign of King Louis XV that the theatre was built, and […]
2017-12-23 06:30:00
Classical Music News of the Week, December 23, 2017
Artist Kevork Mourad to Bring a Contemporary Perspective to Handel's Israel in EgyptA new production of Handel's Israel in Egypt by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Syrian-Armenian artist Kevork Mourad aims to present the oratorio's story of human diaspora through a contemporary lens. The one-night-only performance on Sunday, February 11 will be conducted by Grant Gershon, the Master Chorale's Kiki and David Gindler Artistic Director, and feature 80 singers and 7 soloists. In addition to creating animated projections for Walt Disney Concert Hall for the performance, Mourad will be on stage, creating his paintings in real-time to be projected as he draws them. Born in Syria of Armenian descent, New York-based Mourad is committed to highlighting the current Syrian refugee crisis in his work. With Israel in Egypt, he aims to explore parallels between the exodus of the Israelites and the plagues that besieged Egypt, as chronicled in the […]
2015-08-07 16:00:33
Long ago and Farrar away
“Geraldine Farrar has gone and the Gerry-flappers are disconsolate. The American singer who has won many triumphs in her sixteen years with the Metropolitan Opera Company, won her greatest triumph yesterday when as Zaza she sang her adieu to New York opera audiences.” So reported the New York Times when Farrar sang her last on the stage of the Met, her 672nd performance there in a 15-season career. (By way of comparison, note that Plácido Domingo has as of this date given only five more performances at the Met than Farrar—including conducting!—though his tenure there has lasted more than three times as long as hers. But, after all, times were different back then: Farrar’s final contract with the Met guaranteed her 50 performances each season at $1,800 a night, yielding her a gross sum roughly equivalent to $1.3 million in 2015 dollars.) The first paragraph (quoted above) of the […]
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