Act I

Act II

Act III

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Libretto

Violent, terrifying and fascinating, Caligula, Nero and Elagabalus led lives so short, ambivalent and cruel that they inspired numerous writers. “Anarchy, to the extent to which Elagabalus pushes it, is genuine poetry”, wrote Antonin Artaud, exalting a man’s battle against conventions and order.Cavalli’s last-known opera, dating from 1667, focuses on the perverse young emperor who neglected affairs of state in favour of sensual pleasures.Systematically overturning accepted morals, Elagabalus dresses men as women, and names women to the Senate, favours sinning servants and humiliates generals. Baroque and carnivalesque, Eliogabalo is not, however, an opera that advocates a return to order.Leonardo García Alarcón, a finder of baroque gems, and Thomas Jolly are careful not to transform Eliogabalo into a sublime icon who would abase virtue.On the contrary, the conductor and young director, who are presenting their first production for the Paris Opera, accept the character’s contradictions and ambiguities Orchestre Cappella Mediterranea Chœur de Chambre de NamurCoproduction avec de Nationale Opera, Amsterdam Coproduction Opéra national de Paris, CLC Productions with the participation of France TélévisionsWith the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts and with the assistance of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée.Director: Julien Condemine & Roberto Maria Grassi © Opéra national de Paris - CLC Productions – 2016Picture: © Agathe Poupeney / OnP

<ul><li>Eliogabalo: Emperor of Rome</li><li>Alessandro: Eliogabalo’s cousin and heir </li><li>Gemmira: Giuliano’s sister, engaged to Alessandro but coveted by Eliogabalo</li><li>Giuliano: Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, in love with Eritea</li><li>Eritea: A young woman dishonoured by Eliogabalo and in love with Giuliano</li><li>Zotico: A confidant and favourite of Eliogabalo</li><li>Lenia: Eliogabalo’s nurse</li><li>Nerbulone: Coach driver, Lenia’s fiancé</li><li>Atilia Macrina: A young woman in love with Alessandro</li><li>Tiferne: A gladiator</li></ul>

2016-17-ELIOG162

Eliogabalo

fr / en

Violent, terrifying and fascinating, Caligula, Nero and Elagabalus led lives so short, ambivalent and cruel that they inspired numerous writers. “Anarchy, to the extent to which Elagabalus pushes it, is genuine poetry”, wrote Antonin Artaud, exalting

Francesco Cavalli

Born on February 14, 1602, Francesco Cavalli (real name Pier Francesco Caletti) was the most popular Italian composer of his lifetime. With a beautiful voice, he joined the choir of the duomo of Crema, where his father was maestro di cappella. Noticed by a Venetian nobleman, Federico Cavalli (whose patronymic he would later take), the young Francesco entered the choir of the Basilica of San Marco in 1616, where he rubbed shoulders with Monteverdi, and was then hired as organist at the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. He made many friendships in the circle of Venetian society. In 1630 he married Maria Sosmeno, a wealthy Venetian widow. He acquired sufficient financial independence to be able to detach himself from his duties as a church musician and embarked on the adventure of opera, which was then booming in the City of the Doges. His first opera, Le Nozze di Teti e di Peleo, was premiered in 1639 at the Teatro San Cassiano, the first public theater in Venice. In his second opera, Gli Amori di Apollo e di Dafne, Cavalli laid the groundwork for what was to become the Venetian aesthetic as opposed to the court opera then in force. In La Didone (1641), mythology gave way to history for the first time. The protagonists are no longer deities but humans. La Didone was the first opera performed in Naples for a paying audience. The death of Claudio Monteverdi in 1643 made Cavalli the first Venetian composer. He composed thirty-three operas, eleven of which were written in collaboration with the same librettist, Giovanni Faustini, among which La Calisto (1651) remains one of the models of Venetian opera. Giasone (1649) was the most performed opera of its time in the West. In 1660, Cavalli went to France at the invitation of Cardinal Mazarin for the festivities of the marriage of Louis XIV and the Spanish infanta Maria Theresa. Ercole amante is created in the new hall of the Tuileries, built for the occasion. Louis XIV demanded that ballets composed by Lully, to which the king and queen danced in person, be inserted between acts. Cavalli's music was not successful. Cavalli returned to Venice, where he composed his last six operas, on historical Roman subjects, including Eliogabalo (1667), the last work whose score has survived, which was never performed during his lifetime. He died on January 14, 1676.

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Nadine Sierra was born in Florida and studied at the Mannes College of Music in New York before joining the Adler Fellowship Program at the San Francisco Opera where she made her debut in the company in 2011. In 2007 and 2009 she was the youngest prize-winner at the Marilyn Horne Foundation Vocal Competition and the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.She has won numerous competitions in the United States, including the Richard Tucker Award in 2017 and the Beverly Sills Artist Award in 2018. Soon thereafter, her career took on an international dimension. She made debut appearances at Milan’s La Scala and the New York Metropolitan Opera in Rigoletto (Gilda), the Paris Opera in Don Giovanni (Zerlina) and the Berlin Staatsoper as Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice under the direction of Daniel Barenboim.She has appeared as Flavia (Eliogabalo), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Gilda at the Paris Opera, and Zerlina and Ilia (Idomeneo) at the New York Metropolitan Opera. She also makes regular guest appearances at the San Francisco Opera (La Bohème, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Lucia di Lammermoor).During the 2017-2018 season, she made debuts in the roles of Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Metropolitan Opera, Nanetta (Falstaff) at the Berlin Staatsoper, Norina (Don Pasquale) at the Paris Opera and she sang the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at La Fenice in Venice. The following season, she performed the role of Manon at the Bordeaux Opera and appeared in a new production of Rigoletto at the Berlin Staatsoper. She also sang the role of Maria in a concert version of West Side Story conducted by Antonio Pappano at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.During the 2019-2020 season, she made her role debut as Violetta (La Traviata) at the Teatro Real in Madrid and sang the roles of Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) in San Francisco and Bordeaux, Susanna at the Metropolitan Opera, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) and Nannetta at the Berlin Staatsoper and Lucia at the Royal Opera House in London.

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Leonardo García Alarcón was born in La Plata (Argentina) in 1976 and moved to Europe in 1997. In addition to his theoretical training at the Centre de Musique Ancienne in Geneva, he studied the harpsichord under Christiane Jaccottet at the conservatory there. A conductor, harpsichordist and teacher of the “maestro al cembalo” class at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva, Leonardo García Alarcón has won acclaim from audiences and critics of the specialized press for his rediscovery of previously unknown works and for his innovative interpretations of familiar repertoire works. In 2005, he created his own ensemble, the Cappella Mediterranea. Since 2010, he has also been artistic director and principal conductor of the Chœur de Chambre de Namur. Between 2010 and 2013 he was artist in residence at the Cultural Meeting Centre in Ambronay. The restaging of Cavalli’s opera Elena at the 2013 Aix Festival earned him invitations to perform as a conductor and a harpsichordist in theatres around the world including the Montpellier, Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Lille Operas, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. In 2015, he created the Millenium Orchestra in Belgium. He opened the Paris Opera’s 2016-2017 season with Eliogabalo, and then conducted Il Giasone in Geneva, Erismena at the 2017 Aix Festival, the Sasha Walz production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at the Berlin Staatsoper in November 2018, Antonio Draghi’s El Prometeo and Francesco Sacrati’s La Finta Pazza at the Dijon Opera and, more recently, Charpentier’s Médée at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva. His discography has earned unanimous critical acclaim. In September 2016, Leonardo García Alarcón recorded I 7 Peccati Capitali on Alpha Classic, an imaginative programme based on the airs of Monteverdi. The work was highly acclaimed in the press and earned a nomination for Best Recording at the 2017 Victoires de la Musique. In 2018, he recorded works by Lully, Jacques Arcadelt and Joan Manuel Serrat. In February 2019, Alpha Classics released Il Giasone on DVD. Leonardo García Alarcón is currently an artist in residence at the Dijon Opera.

Comedian and stage director, Thomas Jolly trained with Olivier Lopez, Jean-Pierre Dupuy and René Pareja, while studying theatre. In 2003, he entered the French National School of Theatre TNB (Théâtre national de Bretagne) and where he worked with Jean-François Sivadier, Claude Régy, Bruno Meyssat, Marie Vayssière, Anton Kouznetsov...After completing his studies, he founded his own theatre company, La Piccola Familia. He staged Arlequin poli par l’amour de Marivaux in 2006, Toâ (by Guitry) in 2009 and Piscine (pas d’eau) by Ravenhill. From 2010 to 2014, he staged Shakespeare’s Henry VI, an 18-hour continuous trilogy performance, entirely performed at the Avignon Festival in 2014. This Shakespearian trilogy has since been completed with Richard III, that he both staged and performed. For the 2016 edition of the Avignon Festival, he created Le Ciel, la nuit et la pierre glorieuse, Les Chroniques du Festival d’Avignon and Le Radeau de la Méduse by Kaiser, and, for the 2018 edition, Thyestes by Seneca. For the opera, Thomas Jolly directed Fantasio at the Opera Comique in 2017, then Dusapin’s Macbeth Underworld at La Monnaie in Brussels in 2019.Since 2011, Thomas Jolly has been working as a teacher in several Conservatoires and National Schools. He was also successively associate artist for the Trident – Scène nationale de Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the TNB – Théâtre national de Bretagne, the TNS – Théâtre national de Strasbourg, the Grand T – Théâtre de Loire-Atlantique.Since January 2020, he has been director of the Le Quai Centre dramatique national Angers Pays de la Loire. In 2022, he created The Dragon (Schwartz), the tetralogy Henry VI + Richard III (Shakespeare), and also revived the musical Starmania at the Seine Musicale.Thomas Jolly has been selected as the artistic director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2024 Games and the Paralympics in Paris.At the Paris Opera: Eliogabalo, 2016

Gareth Pugh was born in Sunderland, England. He joined the Fashion Design section of Central Saint Martins, from which he graduated in 2003. In 2005, he created the house Gareth Pugh and presented his first collection during the London Fashion Week. In 2006, he walked in the official London Fashion Week. His avant-garde creations are very successful in the fashion world. He distinguishes himself by proposing atypical models, playing with shapes, volumes and materials, such as leather, vinyl or latex. In 2008, he received the ANDAM Prize (National Association for the Development of Fashion Arts) and presented his first Parisian collection. The following year, he created his first menswear collection. His shows were on the Parisian calendar for six years, before a return in 2015 to London Fashion Week where he celebrated the tenth anniversary of his label. Vogue Runway magazine called his Spring/Summer 2016 collection "perhaps his best collection ever." Over the past decade, Gareth Pugh has worked with some of the most innovative and popular artists of our time (such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna) and with renowned institutions around the world, such as for the Manus x Machina exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York. He also works for theater and dance: most notably, he created the costumes for Wayne McGregor's ballet Aleas Sands at the Palais Garnier in December 2015. He is represented by Karla Otto and CXA New York.

Trained at La Brèche (National centre for circus arts) in Cherbourg, Antoine Travert is passionate about new technologies, mixing traditional lighting and automatic spotlights in his creations.In 2010, he met Thomas Jolly and the Piccola Familia on the creation of Ravenhill’s Piscine (no water). In 2012, he joined the tour Et vous tu m'aimes with the group Brigitte as a lighting assistant. He designed the lighting for Shakespeare's saga Henry VI, directed by Thomas Jolly at the 2014 Avignon Festival.From 2015 and to this day, he has been collaborating with Thomas Jolly: Richard III at the TNB – Théâtre national de Bretagne in 2015, Le Radeau de la méduse (Kaiser) at the Avignon Festival in 2016, Fantasio (Offenbach) at the Opéra Comique in 2017, Thyestes (Seneca) at the Avignon Festival in 2018, Un jardin de silence, a musical show by Raphaële Lanadère and Thomas Jolly, Macbeth Underworld (Dusapin) at La Monnaie in Brussels in 2019, Le Dragon (Schwartz) at the Quai Centre dramatique national in Angers in 2022.Since 2020, Antoine Travert has also been working with other artists. He designed the lighting for Métamorphoses 2.0 (Gianni Forte) produced by Mikaël Bernard / Compagnie À corps rompus, worked on three creations at the Quai Centre dramatique national in Angers (M, staged concert by Clément Mirguet, Echappées directed by Charline Porrone and IAN, a show-concert directed by Flora Diguet) and collaborated with Raphaële Lannadère for the concerts Paysages (2021) and Cheminement (2022).At the Paris Opera: Eliogabalo, 2016

After beginning her career as an actress, Corinne Meyniel turned to an academic career to become a teacher-researcher in theatre studies. She teaches dramaturgy, performance analysis and theater history at the university, and has participated in the publication of two anthologies of little-known texts from the 16th and 17th centuries. She keeps a regular contact with the stage by accompanying various amateur practices during ten years. Her knowledge of French baroque theater led her to Brussels where she worked as a dramaturge on the "bloody tragedy" of the students of the RITS (Erasmushogeschool Brussel) and then collaborated with the ensemble Les Dames Galantes (directed by Chloé Sévère) on baroque programs. She met Thomas Jolly in 2014 to discuss biblical references and theological issues in Shakespeare's Henry VI. In 2016, she accompanies the collective Nos années sauvages for its performative event Insurrection. In November, the creation in Caen of Stravinsky's Rake's Progress will mark her first collaboration with David Bobée.

A graduate of the Royal Conservatories of Liège and Mons, Thibaut Lenaerts began his career with the great European Baroque ensembles as a soloist and singer, including La Chapelle Royale, Le Concert Spirituel, Les Arts Florissants and Les Musiciens du Louvre, under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe, Hervé Niquet, William Christie and Marc Minkowski. He is an active member of the Chœur de chambre de Namur as a singer and ensemble coach. Since 2014, he has been assistant to conductor Leonardo Garcia Alarcon. At the latter's request, he has been appointed conductor at the Opéra national de Paris for the 2019 production of Les Indes Galantes. For the Chœur de chambre de Namur, he also assists various conductors, including Christophe Rousset for, among others, the complete recordings of Lully's operas. He is also choral director of Les Arts Florissants for various productions (Handel's L'Allegro, Bach's St John Passion, Campra's Requiem). In June 2024, Thibaut Lenaerts will conduct Mitridate in Brussels for the Mozartiades. Thibaut Lenaerts teaches at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and Liège. He has taken part in some sixty recordings. With Philippe Riga (Erard piano), he has recorded an album devoted to the melodies of Fauré (Muso / Alpha label), as well as an album devoted to the choral works of César Franck, in which he conducts the Chœur de chambre de Namur (Musique en Wallonie label). This summer, he will conduct and record a previously unreleased version of Fauré's Requiem with the Chœur de chambre de Namur for the Ricercar label.At the Opéra national de Paris: Eliogabalo, 2016; Les Indes galantes, 2019

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