
Florian Sempey
2021Opera national de Paris - Don Pasquale
Michele Pertusi, Florian Sempey
“Foolish indeed is he who marries in old age.” Thus ends Don Pasquale: with a wise dictum not lacking in irony that sums up the disappointments of its hero, a rich bachelor keen to marry who is deceived by his nephew Ernesto and his young bride-to-be Norina. First performed in Paris in 1843, at the turning point of several eras, Don Pasquale, a composite and varied work, is the apotheosis of opera buffa. Performed for the first time at the Paris Opera, the production has been entrusted to the Italian director, Damiano Michieletto, who transports us directly to the sincerity and dramatic splendour at the heart of an apparently light‑hearted work.
Don Pasquale - Palais Garnier
Donizetti: Don Pasquale
Damiano Michieletto
Michele Pertusi, Florian Sempey
First performed in Paris in 1843, at the turning point of several eras, Don Pasquale, a composite and varied work, is the apotheosis of opera buffa. Performed for the first time at the Paris Opera, the production has been entrusted to the Italian director, Damiano Michieletto, who transports us directly to the sincerity and dramatic splendour at the heart of an apparently light‑hearted work.
Donizetti: Don Pasquale
Opéra National de Paris: Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots
Andreas Kriegenburg
Yosep Kang, Lisette Oropesa
Les Huguenots is a monumental fresco featuring various impossible loves in the context of the Saint Bartholomew Massacre. Andreas Kriegenburg places these timeless conflicts of love and religion in an immaculate setting in which the costumes appear yet more flamboyant and the victims’ blood more violently red.
Opéra National de Paris: Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots
Rossini: La Cenerentola
Lawrence Brownlee, Marianne Crebassa
Divested of its traditional attributes – glass slipper and pumpkin carriage – and dominated by a tyrannical stepfather instead of a cruel stepmother, Rossini’s la Cenerentola plays with these most conventional of fairy‑tale characters. Nonetheless Cinderella lives in a closed world devoid of tenderness and under the yoke of the tormentor whom she protects. Deep beneath her goodness smoulders a fire that her encounter with the prince will set free… Guillaume Gallienne subtly highlights the halftones of this dramma giocoso, somewhere between opera buffa and opera seria, and ranging from sombre melancholy to the burlesque.
Rossini: La Cenerentola
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 2017)
François Roussillon
Florian Sempey, Catherine Trottmann
This is Laurent Pelly’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées staging of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, with a cast featuring Florian Sempey as Figaro, Catherine Trottmann as Rosina, and Michele Angelini as Il Conte Almaviva. Jérémie Rhorer conducts Le Cercle de l-Harmonie.
Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 2017)
Royal Opera House: La Bohème
Rhodri Huw
Nicole Car, Michael Fabiano
Puccini’s passionate opera is conducted by Antonio Pappano and stars a superb young cast including Nicole Car, Michael Fabiano and Mariusz Kwiecień, in a new production by Richard Jones.
Royal Opera House: La Bohème
La bohème - ROH
Rhodri Huw
Michael Fabiano, Nicole Car
A penniless poet, a young seamstress, and a lost key: Puccinis passionate opera tells the story of a captivating romance set against the background of 19th-century Paris. The luscious score, with its soaring melodies and rich orchestration, brings to life the relationships between Rodolfo, Mimì and their friends, the painter Marcello and fiery Musetta. Acclaimed director Richard Jones stages a fresh and intelligent new production of one of the worlds most popular operas, conducted by The Royal Operas Music Director, Antonio Pappano.
La bohème - ROH