To mark the centenary of Maria Callas’ birth on 2 December 1923, the Paris Opera is staging a special gala to support the institution’s activities on the anniversary date. A compelling singer and a deeply moving tragedienne, Maria Callas transformed the art of operatic acting and singing.She performed three times on the stage of the Palais Garnier: at a Legion d’Honneur gala in 1958, in Norma in 1964 under the baton of Georges Prêtre, and in Franco Zeffirelli’s famous production of Tosca. She also had a special bond with Paris, where she lived and died on 16 September 1977. Conducted by Eun Sun Kim, the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky pays tribute to Callas in a setting designed by Robert Carsen. The Paris Opera OrchestraA coproduction by the Paris Opera and Morgane Production, with the participation of France Télévisions, the support of Rolex, Crédit Agricole CIB, and members of the Honorary Committee and donors to the event With the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, the POP Circle, and the CNCDirected by: François-René Martin © Paris Opera - Morgane Production - 2023

20231202_Gala-Maria-Callas_103_Elisa-Haberer

Callas

Gala Maria Callas_VI

To mark the centenary of Maria Callas’ birth on 2 December 1923, the Paris Opera is staging a special gala to support the institution’s activities on the anniversary date.  A compelling singer and a deeply moving tragedienne, Maria Callas transformed

"Vissi d’arte"

Gala Maria Callas

Concert conducted by Tugan Sokhiev at the Philharmonie de Paris With the Paris Opera Orchestra

Marked by the seal of disaster - the disaster of a people wounded by a bloody dictatorship - Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 reflects a conflict opposing creative freedom and censorship, inner world and the dictates of power, standing or fading away.In 1935, following the extraordinary success of his first Symphony (1925) and his second opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1930-1932), Shostakovich could still count on the approval of his country's authorities while enjoying world fame. Yet, the year 1936 marked a dramatic turning point in his life. On January 26, Stalin and Zhdanov attended his opera. Two days later, an anonymous article released in the Pravda and entitled ‘Muddle Instead of Music’, condemned the “petty-bourgeois formalism” of the composer and “his shrilling, wriggling, neurasthenic music”, ending with a hardly hidden threat: “It plays with hermeticism, but that game could end very badly”.Shostakovich decided to cancel the premiere of his Symphony No. 4, even though rehearsals had begun in the autumn of 1936. A few reasons were given to explain this retreat: the composer was not fully satisfied with his work, the conductor and the musicians were not able to render such complex music… Most likely, political pressures, from Leningrad Philharmonic Director Isai Renzin among others, made Shostakovich realise that going through with this project was putting his life at risk. The Symphony No. 4 was not created until 30 December 1961, at the Moscow Conservatory with Kirill Kondrashin, after the ascension of Khrushchev to power and the beginning of his De-Stalinization policy. Since the manuscript for the work had been lost during World War II, the score was recreated for the occasion thanks to various orchestral parts and a two-piano version published confidentially in 1946. Following this late premiere, American critics described the work as a “gargantuan symphony”, in reference to its gigantic proportions. This monumental work, which lasts for over an hour and requires an impressive orchestra of 128 musicians, consists of three movements instead of the usual four. If Shostakovich declared, in 1935, that this symphony is the “credo” of his creative work, it may be because the composer sought to embrace, in the manner of Mahler, a form of wholeness.Author: Pietro Milli

Concert Gustav Mahler - Philharmonie de Paris 22-23 © Elisa Haberer - OnP (1)

chostakovitch

Fourth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovitch_trailer

concert-Philharmonie-13sept-319x265

Quatrième symphonie de Dmitri Chostakovitch_VI

Concert conducted by Tugan Sokhiev at the Philharmonie de ParisWith the Paris Opera Orchestra

Marked by the seal of disaster - the disaster of a people wounded by a bloody dictatorship - Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 reflects a conflict opp

Conducted by Tugan Sokhiev at the Philharmonie de Paris

Symphony No. 4 - Dmitri Shostakovich

Experience the exceptional concert by the soprano Maria Callas at the Paris Opera in 1958, broadcast live in its entirety on Eurovision and accompanied by commentary from Pierre Tchernia.For her inaugural recital in France, Maria Callas performed arias from the operas La Forza del destino, Il Trovatore, Norma, Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Tosca, accompanied by the Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Georges Sebastian.During intermissions, both backstage during set changes and within the audience, Pierre Tchernia and Pierre Dumayet conduct numerous interviews with notable figures about Maria Callas' concert, including Jean Cocteau, Patachou, Brigitte Bardot, Gilbert Bécaud, Zizi Jeanmaire, and Roland Petit, along with the Begum Aga Khan. © INA, La grande nuit de l’opéra - Realisation: Roger Benamou, 1958

Maria Callas Concert POP 2

Maria Callas 1958 2

Maria Callas 1958

Experience the exceptional concert by the soprano Maria Callas at the Paris Opera in 1958, broadcast live in its entirety on Eurovision and accompanied by commentary from Pierre Tchernia. For her inaugural recital in France, Maria Callas performed ar

The Légion d'honneur's gala in 1958

Maria Callas' exceptional concert at the Palais Garnier (1958)

The Paris Opera offers its musical director, Gustavo Dudamel, carte blanche with the Paris Opera Orchestra and artists from the Academy. A programme inspired by the rhythms and colours of Spain and South America in the magnificent setting of the Palais Garnier. The Paris Opera Academy and OrchestraA coproduction of the Paris Opera and Camera Lucida Productions, in association with ARTE France With the support of the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée© Opéra national de Paris - 2023 Director: Corentin LecontePicture: © Elisa Haberer / OnP

Concert au Palais Garnier déc 2022 © J'adore ce que vous faites !

Concert Gustav Mahler – Victoria Hall de Genève 22-23 © Christian Meuwly (1)

Les artistes de l’Académie de l'Opéra de Paris_trailer

Concert inaugural - 4

The Artists of the Paris Opera Academy conducted by Gustavo Dudamel

The Paris Opera offers its musical director, Gustavo Dudamel, carte blanche with the Paris Opera Orchestra and artists from the Academy. A programme inspired by the rhythms and colours of Spain and South America in the magnificent setting of the Pala

conducted by Gustavo Dudamel

The Artists of the Paris Opera Academy

This concert is offered in immersive sound. Would you like to try out a concert experience with immersive sound, as if you were in the concert hall? Use your usual headphones or pair of earphones.In this mix of pieces from the French and Austrian repertoires, Gustavo Dudamel masterfully draws out the myriad colours of the Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris. The Paris Opera OrchestraWith the support of the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts.© Opéra national de Paris - 2023 Picture: © Elisa Haberer / OnP

2021-22-DUDAM-258

Gustavo Dudamel

Concert à la Philharmonie de Paris

This concert is offered in immersive sound. Would you like to try out a concert experience with immersive sound, as if you were in the concert hall? Use your usual headphones or pair of earphones. In this mix of pieces from the French and Austrian re

Concert at the Philharmonie de Paris

Messiaen, Haydn, Ravel, Strauss

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 9 in D MajorThe Paris Opera OrchestraA co-production of the Paris Opera and Camera lucida productions With the participation of Mezzo, medici.tv and the Gran Teatre del Liceu With the support of the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcastsDirector: Jean-Pierre Loisil © Opéra national de Paris – Camera lucida productions - 2022Picture: © Paco Amate

Gustav Mahler concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona (season 22/23)

Concert Gustav Mahler - Liceu de Barcelone 22-23 © Paco Amate (4)

Symphonie n°9 Gustav Mahler

Gustavo Dudamel conducts Mahler's Symphony No. 9 in D Major The Paris Opera Orchestra A co-production of the Paris Opera and Camera lucida productionsWith the participation of Mezzo, medici.tv and the Gran Teatre del LiceuWith the support of the Oran

Gustav Mahler

Symphony No. 9

To celebrate the Music Day’s 35th anniversary, the Paris Opera gave on 21 June 2016 an exceptional concert at the Bastille Opera House. The program included excerpts of 19th century French and Italian classic repertoire, such as Verdi’s famous operas (Aida, Nabucco, La Forza del Destino, Il Trovatore and La Traviata), Bizet’s Carmen, Pucini’s Tosca, Saint- Saëns’s Samson and Delilah, Bellini’s Norma.This program featured the Paris Opera Orchestra and Choruses, conducted by Philippe Jordan, and three exceptional soloists: Sondra Radvanovsky, Anita Rachvelishvili and Aleksandr Antonenko. The Paris Opera Orchestra and ChorusesA co-production of the Paris Opera, Telmondis, ARTE France With the support of the Centre national du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée and the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcastsDirector: François-René Martin © Opéra national de Paris – Telmondis – Arte France 2016Picture: Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Concert symphonique

Exceptional lyric concert_trailer

Exceptional lyric concert

To celebrate the Music Day’s 35th anniversary, the Paris Opera gave on 21 June 2016 an exceptional concert at the Bastille Opera House. The program included excerpts of 19th century French and Italian classic repertoire, such as Verdi’s famous operas

Verdi, Puccini, Saint-Saëns, Bizet, Bellini

This inaugural concert features an anthology of opera excerpts, inviting us to rediscover great arias, duets, ensembles and musical interludes from a rich and eclectic repertoire in a truly exceptional performance. From Georges Bizet’s Carmen to John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, from Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin to Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar, from Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier to Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff, from Manuel De Falla’s La Vida breve to Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Orchestra, Chorus, Academy’s artists and guest performers.A true musical celebration for the first edition of this exceptional concert. The Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus, the Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine / Chœur d’enfant de l’Opéra national de ParisA co-production of the Paris Opera and Caméra Lucida, with the participation of France télévisions, Mezzo and Medici.tv, with the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image animée.© Opéra national de Paris - Caméra Lucida - 2021 Director: François-René MartinPicture: Elisa Haberer / OnP

Concert inaugural - 1

Opening concert of the 21/22 season_trailer

Opening concert of the 21/22 season

This inaugural concert features an anthology of opera excerpts, inviting us to rediscover great arias, duets, ensembles and musical interludes from a rich and eclectic repertoire in a truly exceptional performance.From Georges Bizet’s Carmen to John 

Inaugural Concert - Season 21/22

Of Faustian inspiration, The Soldier's Tale tells the story of a soldier who meets the Devil. The Devil offers him, in exchange for his fiddle, a book that he says contains untold wealth. But his future wealth does not necessarily induce happiness... Ramuz was inspired by a folk tale written by the Russian writer Afanassiev – though he transformed the story to add a universal value and adapt it to the context of a tormented Europe.Deprived of his financial resources – blocked in Russia and depending on Diaghilev’s company that ceased all activities during this time - Stravinsky lived this first global war as an exile in Switzerland. He never ceased to create though, mainly thanks to his encounter with poet and novelist Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz in September 1915.War-related shortages didn’t spare the world of the arts, short of human and financial resources. But for inspired artists such as Stravinsky and Ramuz, these impediments were quickly transformed into strengths. Simpler means – inherent to these times of starvations – resulted in a smaller instruments ensemble and a shorter, more narrative than dramatic text.Set to Ramuz’s refined words, the composer’s music is amplified throughout the work, reflecting the growing triumph of the Devil. Soloists and musicians of the Paris Opera OrchestraWith the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts© Opéra national de Paris - 2021 Picture: © Elena Bauer / OnP

Igor Stravinsky, L’histoire du soldat

L'Histoire du soldat

Tale of the Soldier

Of Faustian inspiration, The Soldier's Tale tells the story of a soldier who meets the Devil. The Devil offers him, in exchange for his fiddle, a book that he says contains untold wealth. But his future wealth does not necessarily induce happiness...

Igor Stravinsky

The Soldier's Tale

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 holds a unique place in the history of this genre, not only because it opens a series of symphonies amongst the most significant monuments of music’s history - and contains the germs of many of its components - but also because, due to this very fact, it represents a fundamental junction point between the tradition of classical symphony (Mozart, Haydn) – of which it keeps constitutive features -, and what we could name the Romantic aesthetic, that will be deployed after and from it.The year of its creation is even a symbolic one: 1800, the pivotal moment holding together two centuries. The Paris Opera OrchestraA coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera With the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: © Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

jordan

Jordan

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°1

Beethoven’s Symphony  No. 1 holds a unique place in the history of this genre, not only because it opens a series of symphonies amongst the most significant monuments of music’s history - and contains the germs of many of its components - but also be

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 1

Beethoven delved into the symphonic genre rather late in his life. He was already 30 years old when he achieved his first Symphony (1800), after a long preparatory period. The reason is, he is then facing two imposing influences of the genre, Mozart and Haydn, and is not considering a frontal approach yet.His innovations are surreptitiously disturbing symmetries, intensifying dynamics and disrupting rhythms. His Symphony No. 3 (1805) will decisively settle the typical Beethovian style, something perfectly reflected in the title “Eroica”.This is the emergence of a different relationship to dramatic scansion of pure music and to the temporal development of “historical” powers (as we could qualify them).Between these two movements of the Creation of Symphony, the Symphony No.2 found the right balance, a miracle too often neglected: it overcomes the ambivalent reaction to tradition to better assert the freedom of an event yet to come.Maynard Solomon, who wrote major essays on Beethoven, described it as “a both retrospective and prospective work”. The Paris Opera Orchestra A coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera With the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: © Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°2

Beethoven delved into the symphonic genre rather late in his life. He was already 30 years old when he achieved his first Symphony (1800), after a long preparatory period. The reason is, he is then facing two imposing influences of the genre, Mozart 

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 2

During the fall 1802, Beethoven is living one of the most serious crises of his life, as tragically witnesses the Heiligenstadt Testament. Aware that his growing deafness will not be cured, increasingly isolated from the outside world of people and sounds, he contemplated suicide: “A little more and I would have ended me life, it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.”This artistic impulsion that saved his life gave birth to the Symphony No. 3 in E♭ major “Eroica”, op 55, on which he began to work in 1802, while the Symphony No. 2 was not achieved yet. He completed the work of his “Grande Sinfonia” during the summer 1803 and presented a first version in the fall.His friend and patron Prince Lobkowitz bought him the work’s exclusive rights for six months and offered him a rehearsal room and an orchestra in his palace. The Paris Opera Orchestra A coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris OperaWith the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: ©Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°3

During the fall 1802, Beethoven is living one of the most serious crises of his life, as tragically witnesses the Heiligenstadt Testament. Aware that his growing deafness will not be cured, increasingly isolated from the outside world of people and s

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 3

The Fourth Symphony probably suffered a little from being caught in an imposing vice, between the Third and Fifth. That one carried real revolutionary forces; this one opened an era of titanic struggle with destiny, a literally unheard-of language whose path will be increasingly steep and lonely over the years.None of this, apparently, in the Fourth, where Beethoven seems to affirm that beyond the audacity of his experiments, he still possesses a perfect mastery of "classical" writing.Forgoing the frontal apostrophe, the opening Adagio develops an atmosphere of romantic mystery (not unlike the beginning of Mahler's First Symphony), with ample melodic lines and harmonious rhythm.The Allegro vivace, although structured by the opposition of a principal motive and two secondary motives arranged in canon, unfolds as if in a single stroke, a movement closed in on itself in an autonomy that Beethoven is increasingly renouncing.The Adagio of the second movement also possesses this melodic amplitude which gives the main theme, over eight bars, a cantabile character touching on the sublime, while the rhythmic structures gradually become more complex.The Scherzo recaptures the playful spirit of the first movement, playing with a kind of playfulness between binary and ternary rhythms; the Trio, of particularly simple structure, recalls the tone of the secondary themes heard in the first Allegro vivace. The Paris Opera OrchestraA coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera With the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: ©Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°4_trailer

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°4

The Fourth Symphony probably suffered a little from being caught in an imposing vice, between the Third and Fifth. That one carried real revolutionary forces; this one opened an era of titanic struggle with destiny, a literally unheard-of language wh

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 4

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 represents a spectacular milestone in the history of symphonic form, after which it would be impossible to turn backwards. The composer once and for all rejects the static, architectural organization inherent of the classical symphony (where entirely independent movements are organized and harmonized with one another), and chooses instead to develop a purely dynamic conception of his work.These movements from minor to major, from shadow to light, from conflict to victory (metaphorically) are the most obvious traits of such a progression. But on a deeper level, the real challenge here is the emergence of a new form of musical time.In the classical period, music (as many other forms of expression) consisted in the submission of a material to an order of succession, but whose power of organization existed outside of time, or was above it: the logical discursive order, rhetoric being the absolute model.With Beethoven, a work’s musical time is structured as an interdependent and specific event, based on an internal logic as a vital development: Beethoven goes from an organization to an organism, from metric to dynamic. The Paris Opera OrchestraA coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera With the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: © Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°5

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 represents a spectacular milestone in the history of symphonic form, after which it would be impossible to turn backwards. The composer once and for all rejects the static, architectural organization inherent of the classic

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 5

The Symphonies No. 6 in F major “Pastoral”, op 68 and No. 8 in F major, op 93 have been composed and premiered together, on 22 December 1808 at the Theater an der Wien, during a marathon concert that lasted more than 4 hours and was organized as a farewell concert to Vienna (Beethoven was supposed to leave the capital for Kassel, to join the court of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia. But the project was cancelled at the last minute).The evening program included Beethoven’s “Great Symphony” in C minor and a Symphony titled “Memories of life at the countryside” in F major, in the reverse numerical order that the one we know today. But when the scores were published by Breitkopf &  Hartel in April 1809, they were given their final number. The Paris Opera Orchestra A coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris OperaWith the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2015Picture: ©Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°6

The Symphonies No. 6 in F major “Pastoral”, op 68 and No. 8 in F major, op 93 have been composed and premiered together, on 22 December 1808 at the Theater an der Wien, during a marathon concert that lasted more than 4 hours and was organized as a fa

Ludwig van Beethoven Cycle - Symphony No. 6

The Symphony No. 7 's first draft is dated 13 May 1812. A week later, Napoleon called the German Princes gathered in Dresden to engage their troops in the attack launched against Russia. Like the Symphony No.3, called “Eroica” (first dedicated in 1802 to “the memory of a great man”, aka the First Consul Bonaparte who, when he became Emperor, was dead to the composer), or the Concerto for piano No. 5 (that Beethoven never chose to title The Emperor, and that he dedicated in 1810 to the Archduke of Austria instead, when Europe was swept by Napoleonic seaquakes), the Symphony No. 7 evokes historical great powers, much more than the alleged passion for Antonie Brentano, as it’s often said.The work would rest one year and a half concealed in Beethoven’s drawers, at a time when Austria was threatened by France. The Battle of Leipzig, in October 1813, gave the advantage to the Coalition armies, but French invasion kept on progressing in Russia.Johann Nepomuk  Maelzel – inventor of the metronome, the panharmonicon (an automaton able to play the musical instruments of an orchestra) and of a useless hearing aid for Beethoven- convinced Beethoven to take part in a charity concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau. The concert took place on 8 December 1813.Beethoven conducted the Premiere of his Seventh Symphony, along with his Wellington’s Victory (composed for this panharmonicon instrument, but performed for the occasion by the orchestra), and Pleyel’s and Dussek’s Marches. The orchestra included some of the finest musicians of their time, with Johann Hummel,  Antonio Salieri and Ludwig Spohr.  The Paris Opera OrchestraA coproduction Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis In association with ARTE France and M_MEDIA /ClassicAll TV With the support of Pierre Bergé, patron of the symphonic concerts of the Paris Opera Orchestra and of the Orange Foundation, patron of the audiovisual broadcasts of the Paris Opera With the support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animéeDirector: Vincent Massip © Opéra national de Paris - Telmondis - 2014Picture: © Jean-François Leclercq / OnP

Cycle Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphonie n°7

The Symphony No. 7 's first draft is dated 13 May 1812. A week later, Napoleon called the German Princes gathered in Dresden to engage their troops in the attack launched against Russia. Like the Symphony No.3, called “Eroica” (first dedicated in 180