The mysterious, unwavering chant of the English horn, punctuated by notes from the bassoon and the clarinet, follows its chromatic descent over twenty bars as if plunging into an unknown world. A world where Iolanta has lived in seclusion since her birth. She is unwittingly blind, since no one has the right to reveal the fact to her. This simple tale of collective denial at the court of Provence as narrated by the Danish writer Henrik Hertz in his play King René’s Daughter, was discovered by Tchaikovsky in 1883. However, moved beyond words by the presence of the young actress Elena Konstantinova Leshkovskaya in the title role, it would be another five years before the composer decided to transform it into an opera. Should we believe him when he claims that “the dukes, knights and noble damsels of the Middle Ages had captivated his imagination, but not his heart”? Would the fate of the heroine, like a rite of passage from darkness to light, from lies to truth, not rekindle his own wounds which ended up carrying him to his grave less than a year after the double premiere of Iolanta and The Nutcracker at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre on December 18th 1892?Directed for the stage by Dmitri Tcherniakov, this exceptional programme combines all the talents of the Paris Opera and offers an opera and a ballet in a single evening: Tchaikovsky originally intended Iolanta and The Nutcracker to be staged together. However, since their debut performance at Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre in 1892, they have been presented separately. The composer found inspiration for his opera in Danish playwright Henrik Hertz’s work recounting the romantic story of Iolanta, the blind daughter of King René. Protected by her father in his Provençal château, the princess ultimately regains her sight before marrying the gallant knight Vaudémont. The Nutcracker is based on a tale by Hoffmann adapted by Alexandre Dumas. Like a two-sided mirror reflecting the dreams of a composer who took refuge in the realms of the imaginary, the Paris Opera is reviving the original diptych. Alain Altinoglu conducts and Dmitri Tcherniakov stages this production that symbolises the link between opera and ballet.Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra national de Paris Le Corps de Ballet de l’Opéra national de Paris Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine Chœur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de Paris Avec la participation d’élèves d’écoles de danse parisiennes.Une coproduction Opéra national de Paris et Bel Air Media With the participation of France Télévisions and the support of the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the audiovisual retransmissions of the Paris National Opera, and the National Center for Cinema and Moving Images. Director : Andy Sommer© Opéra national de Paris – Bel Air Media – France 2016Picture: ©Agathe Poupeney / OnP

Iolanta / Casse-Noisette - 5

Iolanta / The Nutcracker_trailer

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Iolanta / The Nutcracker

Bastille salle

Performance of The Nutcracker by Noureyev at the Opera Bastille, from 08 December 2023 to 01 January 2024

The mysterious, unwavering chant of the English horn, punctuated by notes from the bassoon and the clarinet, follows its chromatic descent over twenty bars as if plunging into an unknown world. A world where Iolanta has lived in seclusion since her b

Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky / Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Edouard Lock, Arthur Pita

Iolanta/The Nutcracker

Is it because Murger had himself lived this way in his youth? No one better described the half-starved, struggling artists than the writer in his Scènes de la Vie de Bohème: artists ready to burn a manuscript to try to keep warm yet, in an era of triumphant bourgeois materialism, dreaming of another existence.Taking up these scenes of Bohemian life, Puccini offers us a heart-breaking love story and some of the most beautiful music in the history of opera in the story of the poet Rodolfo and fragile Mimi.The staging of this new production has been entrusted to Claus Guth who sets the drama in a future devoid of hope in which love and art become the sole means of transcendence. Maîtrise des Hauts de Seine / Chœur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de ParisDirector: François Roussillon A coproduction Opéra national de Paris and François Roussillon et Associés, with the participation of France Télévisions, TF1, medici.tv and the support of the Fondation Orange and the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée.© Opéra national de Paris – François Roussillon et Associés - 2017

2017-18-BOHEM-022

La Bohème_trailer

La Bohème

Is it because Murger had himself lived this way in his youth? No one better described the half-starved, struggling artists than the writer in his Scènes de la Vie de Bohème: artists ready to burn a manuscript to try to keep warm yet, in an era of tri

Giacomo Puccini

In February 1972, the American president Richard Nixon went to China to meet Mao Zedong. In the context of the war in Vietnam and the cold war, this encounter marked a turning point in Chinese‑ American relations. John Adams, a major musical figure of the last forty years, made this event of contemporary history the subject of his first opera.Nixon in China tackles the political thaw instigated by ping-pong diplomacy, begun by the invitation of the American table tennis players by their Chinese counterparts, one year before the presidential visit. A mesmerising work in which the pulsations and repetitions typical of minimalism are combined with melodic lines of great lyricism.For its entry into the Paris Opera repertoire, this work has been entrusted to the director Valentina Carrasco, who underlines the importance and the mediating power of Chinese national sport in history. The Paris Opera Orchestra and ChorusWith the support of the Orange Foundation, sponsor of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts.© Opéra national de Paris - 2023 Picture: © Everett Collection / Bridgeman Images

Richard Nixon: President of the United States Mao Tse-tung: Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Pat Nixon: First Lady of the United States Chiang Ch’ing: Mao’s wife Henry Kissinger: US National Security Advisor Chou En-lai: Chinese Prime Minister

Nixon in China 22-23 

Nixon in China_trailer

Nixon in China

In February 1972, the American president Richard Nixon went to China to meet Mao Zedong. In the context of the war in Vietnam and the cold war, this encounter marked a turning point in Chinese‑ American relations. John Adams, a major musical figure o

John Adams

Snegurochka was born in times of old in Tsar Berendey’s mythical kingdom, the fruit of the union between Spring the Beauty and Grandfather Frost. Protected by her parents from the jealousy of the Sun god Yarilo who has vowed to warm her heart when she gets older and falls in love, Snegurochka the snow maiden is entrusted to the wood sprite… Particularly attached to the opera which he himself considered to be a work of maturity, Rimsky‑Korsakov would write ten years after its creation that: “anyone who fails to love The Snow Maiden understands nothing of my works nor of myself”. A masterpiece of popular Slavic literature, The Snow Maiden brings to the stage a magical fantasy enriched by the rigours of the weather. Aida Garifullina sings the role of Snegurochka whilst the production and musical direction have been left in the capable hands of two other Russian artists: the young conductor Mikhail Tatarnikov and director Dmitri Tcherniakov.
 Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine / Chœur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de ParisA co-production of the Opéra national de Paris and Bel Air Media, with the participation of ARTE France 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.Director: Andy Sommer © Opéra national de Paris – Bel Air Media 2017Picture: © Elisa Haberer / OnP

<ul><li>Father Frost</li><li>Spring Beauty</li><li>Snowmaiden: Their daughter</li><li>Lel: A shepherd</li><li>Mizgir: A rich merchant</li><li>Kupava: Mizgir’s fiancée</li><li>Tsar Berendey: The sovereign of the Berendey people</li><li>Bermyata: A Boyar close to the Tsar</li><li>Bobyl Bakula, Bobylikha: An old, childless couple</li><li>The Wood Sprite: Guardian of the forest</li><li>Maslenitsa: An effigy representing the passage from winter to spring</li></ul>

La Fille de neige

La Fille de neige_trailer

The Snow Maiden

Snegurochka was born in times of old in Tsar Berendey’s mythical kingdom, the fruit of the union between Spring the Beauty and Grandfather Frost. Protected by her parents from the jealousy of the Sun god Yarilo who has vowed to warm her heart when sh

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Space dust or ping-pong balls, discover how snow has been interpreted on stage at the Paris Opera.

Space dust or ping-pong balls, discover how snow has been interpreted on stage at the Paris Opera. 