"The colours of a far-reaching Europe"
Philippe Jordan

It is a particular joy for me to open a season of new productions with the original French version of Don Carlos, which Verdi was forced to drastically edit down before the work’s premiere: we shall be presenting the entire work as it existed prior to its first performance but which Parisian audiences never had the opportunity to hear because the composer was obliged to shorten the opera and add a ballet to conform with the conventions of the time. Later versions of the opera never restored these initial cuts which, sadly, are all too often taken for granted.

As different as these two works are, Don Carlos and Benvenuto Cellini both play a role in our exploration of the great 19th century French operas that we have pursued over the last three seasons as part of the Berlioz cycle. Following the “family portrait of a royal house”, we will be presenting the most wildly extravagant of Berlioz’s operas: Benvenuto Cellini. Despite the composer’s difficulties in completing the work, its brilliant orchestration and the communicative extravagance of its melodies make it a unique score translating his fascination for Cellini as a person and the pleasure he drew from this fantastic jewel set in the Italian Renaissance.

Restaging Parsifal has been a top priority for me: The work has not been performed at the Paris Opera in ten years. Its return was essential, and I am delighted that it is occurring during a season in which I am also conducting Pelléas et Mélisande, because both works are very closely linked. Parsifal greatly influenced Debussy’s writing and with “Pelléas” he composed a profoundly Wagnerian inner drama. Another of this year’s revivals is Così fan tutte, a production whose profound alchemy left its mark last season and which I am particularly happy to be conducting again.

Finally, after revisiting all of Beethoven’s symphonies, it seemed important for myself and the Paris Opera Orchestra to explore Tchaikovsky’s symphony music. The two composers have sometimes been compared, in particular because their works translate man’s struggle in the face of his own destiny. However, with Tchaikovsky, we must contrast the “youthful” symphonies with the three final, monumental ones so as to create a dialogue between the dream-like elements clearly enunciated in the very first “Winter Dreams” and the emotion and suffering of the “Pathétique” that will conclude the cycle.

"The promontory of the dream"

Stéphane Lissner

"Discovering the widest possible repertoire "

Aurélie Dupont

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