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)

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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

In 1838, Gaetano Donizetti moved to Paris after a career already rich in works such as Lucia di Lammermoor, when he received a commission from the Opéra-Comique. La Fille du régiment, his first work written directly in French, premiered there two years later and gave the composer the opportunity to explore a broad range of musical styles, from the boisterous overture to bravura arias such as “Ah! mes amis” and poignant, languorous romances. Foreshadowing Offenbach, this military opera about a vivandière, Marie, adopted at birth by a French regiment, doubles as a sentimental fable and a comic confrontation between two opposing worlds, that of the military encampment and that of the aristocracy. Laurent Pelly takes on this pinnacle of bel canto with his characteristic verve. Setting the work during the 1914 war rather than the Napoleonic Wars and adapting the dialogue, the director modernises the piece without sacrificing a single ounce of its brio.

Marie: young vivandière Tonio: young Tyrolean Sulpice: sergeant The Marchioness of Berkenfield Hortensius: marquise's steward The Duchess of Crakentorp

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La Fille du régiment

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In 1838, Gaetano Donizetti moved to Paris after a career already rich in works such as Lucia di Lammermoor, when he received a commission from the Opéra-Comique.La Fille du régiment, his first work written directly in French, premiered there two year

Gaetano Donizetti

“When I recreate a ballet, I search for the fragrance of the period”, said dancer and choreographer Pierre Lacotte, who died in 2023. In Paquita, that perfume is the heady scent of Spain, mixed with elegant French fragrances.In the Valley of the Bulls, near Saragossa occupied by Napoleon’s armies, Paquita, a young gypsy girl, refuses the advances of an aristocrat, Lucien d’Hervilly, because of her modest condition. But when she saves him from a plot hatched by the Spanish governor, she discovers that her origins are far nobler than she thought… Pierre Lacotte, a lover of the Romantic repertoire, reconstructed Joseph Mazilier’s ballet in 2001. The work had enchanted Théophile Gautier when it premiered at the Paris Opera in 1846 but gradually fell into oblivion despite Marius Petipa’s new version in 1882. With its sumptuous sets and costumes, his Paquita portrays a picturesque Spain combining mime and characterful dances with dazzingly vivacious virtuoso technique.

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Paquita

“When I recreate a ballet, I search for the fragrance of the period”, said dancer and choreographer Pierre Lacotte, who died in 2023. In Paquita, that perfume is the heady scent of Spain, mixed with elegant French fragrances. In the Valley of the Bul

Pierre Lacotte

A return to its roots for Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s lyric tragedy first performed in 1737 at the Académie royale and inspired by the mythological episode of the Gemini.Rarely performed in its original version – the score was reworked by Rameau himself in 1754 –, this daring work plays on contrasts and expressiveness, as in the famous “Tristes apprêts”. The aria is sung by Télaïre mourning the death of her fiancé Castor, killed in battle, before his twin brother Pollux descends into the Underworld to ask his father, Jupiter, to bring him back to life.While this opera celebrates brotherly love, its prologue poses an essential question for director Peter Sellars: how do you stop a war and its attendant hatred and resentment? Utopia Orchestra and ChorusDance and choreography: Christopher Beaubrun, Jin Lee Baobei, Andrew Coleman dit « Finesse », Xavier Days dit « X », Ablaye Diop, Ange Emmanuel dit « Kendrickble », Kenza Kabisso, Joshua Morales dit « Sage », Tom Mornet Bouchiba dit « Tomorrow », Cordell Purnell dit « Storm », Sarah Querut, Edwin Saco dit « Jamsy », Océane Valence

Castor: Son of Leda and Tyndare, mortal Pollux: Son of Leda and Jupiter, immortal Télaïre: Castor’s fiancée Phébé: Pollux’s partner Jupiter: Pollux’s father

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Castor et Pollux

A return to its roots for Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s lyric tragedy first performed in 1737 at the Académie royale and inspired by the mythological episode of the Gemini. Rarely performed in its original version – the score was reworked 

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Flashback : watch the live shows that you might have missed this 24/25 season on POP!

Flashback : watch the live shows that you might have missed this 24/25 season on POP! 