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.