Stage director Vincent Huguet takes up eternal themes—liberation and courage, devotion and doubt, tragedy and acceptance—to stage three histoires sacrées (sacred histories) written by Marc-Antoine Charpentier more than 300 years ago. The economical use of a small instrumental ensemble over Latin vocal lines creates space for sublime surprises: more than abrupt mood changes or an unexpected fortissimo, we become attuned to the slightest dissonance, the delicate softness of instruments in unison, the briefest moments of silence. After three centuries, the drama of the work hits just as potently in the 21st century.
Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.
Viewers also picked
An adaptation of the successful stage musical based on Victor Hugo's classic novel set in 19th-century France. Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Viewers also picked
A chronicle of the Cristeros War (1926-1929), which was touched off by a rebellion against the Mexican government's attempt to secularize the country.
Viewers also picked
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Viewers also picked
From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.
Viewers also picked
In 1429, a French teenager stood before her King with a message she claimed came from God; that she would defeat the world's greatest army and liberate her country from its political and religious turmoil. As she reclaims God's diminished kingdom, this courageous young woman has various amazing victories until her violent and untimely death.
Viewers also picked
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
Viewers also picked
A retelling of the story of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette - from her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at fifteen to her reign as queen at nineteen and ultimately the fall of Versailles.
Viewers also picked
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.
Viewers also picked
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Viewers also picked
For his first appearance in the pit in Paris with his Artaserse ensemble, Philippe Jaroussky has chosen a masterpiece that he knows well, having sung the role of Sesto on numerous occasions, notably in the highly acclaimed Salzburg production alongside Cecilia Bartoli. As for the staging, we will welcome for the first time on Avenue Montaigne a Venetian who is used to the greatest European stages and who has undertaken his first Handel, Alcina, in the summer of 2019 in Salzburg with Ruggiero... Philippe Jaroussky. Everyone agrees on his ability to imagine delicate and highly effective dramaturgical worlds (his Barber of Seville for the Paris Opera is an irresistible visual translation of Rossini's frenzied score). His debut in opera seria with Alcina also showed his intelligence in giving coherence and emotion to the demanding arias da capo. On stage, a team familiar with the Théàtre des Champs-Elysées and this repertoire, led by a very fine trio of French women.
Three hundred years old and as timely as ever, Handel's monumental Giulio Cesare in Egitto (Julius Caesar in Egypt) arrives at the 2025 Salzburg Festival in a new staging by the audacious, award-winning Dmitri Tcherniakov! When Caesar (Christophe Dumaux) comes to Egypt on the hunt for his enemy Pompey, he discovers that the pharaoh Ptolemy (Yuriy Mynenko) has beaten him to the punch, setting Pompey's son Sextus (Federico Fiorio) on a mission for vengeance — all while Ptolemy's sister Cleopatra (Olga Kulchynska) schemes to take the throne for herself, leading her directly into the path of Caesar… This tale of uncompromising rivalries and the corrupting thrall of political power is animated by one of Handel's finest scores, majestic in the hands of expert Baroque ensemble Le Concert d'Astrée under their celebrated founder Emmanuelle Haïm.
In this 2018 performance of Handel’s 'Rinaldo,' the knight Rinaldo embarks on a quest to rescue his beloved Almirena from the sorceress Armida set during the first Crusades.
On Thursday 2 May 2019, the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, led by John Eliot Gardiner, brought a new production of Semele to “London’s oldest new theatre” at Alexandra Palace. This concert-staging of “Handel’s sexiest opera”, directed by Thomas Guthrie, was the only London date on a prestigious European tour. Featuring a young, glamorous cast of international soloists, the performance provided London audiences with a fuller version of the work, notably with some passages by Handel very rarely heard in modern performances.
For their final concert on Les Chemins de Bach, Raphaël Pichon and the Pygmalion ensemble perform Bach's short masses and motets in Arnstadt's Bachkirche.
Orfeo and Qays are two poets of legend who celebrate love and unity through music. Their songs resonate from East to West and back. An ancient Greek myth intertwines with an oriental love story; Orfeo & Majnun is an intercultural and interdisciplinary project. It includes a parade in the streets of Aix-en-Provence with animal puppets and a performance streamed live on OperaVision from Aix’s famous Cours Mirabeau.
Raphaël Pichon and the Pygmalion ensemble join forces with a magnificent vocal ensemble to perform Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata Actus Tragicus, set to a work by Johann Michael Bach. Program : Johann Michael Bach - Unser Leben ist siebenzig Jahre Jean-Sébastien Bach - Cantate Actus Tragicus BWV 106 (extraits)
