Faust - Opera - Season 21/22 Programming - Opéra national de Paris

  • Opera

    Faust

    Charles Gounod

    Opéra Bastille - from 28 June to 13 July 2022

    Emma Birski / OnP

  • Charles Duprat / OnP

    [EXTRAIT] FAUST by Charles Gounod (Christian Van Horn) [EXTRAIT] FAUST by Charles Gounod (Christian Van Horn)

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Faust

Opéra Bastille - from 28 June to 13 July 2022

Opera

Faust

Charles Gounod

Opéra Bastille - from 28 June to 13 July 2022

3h50 with 2 intervals

Language : French

Surtitle : French / English

  • Opening night : 28 June 2022

About

In few words:

“I want a treasure which contains them all! I want youth!” Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite… Reworking the legend popularised by Goethe, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. Choosing to lighten the narrative’s philosophical scope allows him to strike a balance between scenes where the supernatural calls for the visually spectacular and others depicting a universe governed by inward actions and feelings. Transposed to the present day, Tobias Kratzer’s Faust reflects on contemporary society’s obsession with eternal youth. His production’s sophisticated scenography oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, between the world of today and the mysterious atmosphere of German romanticism.

CHARACTERS

Doctor Faust
Méphistophélès
Marguerite

Siebel: a student
Valentin: Marguerite’s brother
Wagner: a friend of Valentin
Dame Marthe: Marguerite’s neighbour

  • Opening
  • First part 50 mn
  • Intermission 25 mn
  • Second part 55 mn
  • Intermission 20 mn
  • Third part 75 mn
  • End

Media coverage

  • Tobias Kratzer proves he has a flair for the show

    Le Figaro
  • German director Tobias Kratzer revives a spectacular, epic and devilish Faust

    Les Inrockuptibles
  • The jubliant Faust of Tobias Kratzer

    Le Monde
  • A show whose clever setting and dramatic intensity move along with the plot

    Les Échos

Performances

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Audio clips

Faust (saison 21/22) - Acte 5, Orchestre et Choeur - Final

Faust(saison 21/22) - Acte 4, "Ce Qui Doit Arriver" (Florian Sempey)

Faust (saison 21/22) - Acte 4, Choeur "Quand Du Seigneur Le Jour Luira"

Faust (saison 21/22) - Acte 4, "Versez Vos Chagrins En Mon Âme" (Emily D'Angelo)

Backstage

  • The video projections in Faust

    Article

    The video projections in Faust

  • Singing to tell the tale

    Video

    Singing to tell the tale

  • Recipe of the day: Faust

    Video

    Recipe of the day: Faust

  • Imaginary Faust

    Video

    Imaginary Faust

  • Draw-me Faust

    Video

    Draw-me Faust

  • A new Faust for the Opéra Bastille

    Video

    A new Faust for the Opéra Bastille

© Elena Bauer / OnP

The video projections in Faust

Article

The video projections in Faust

Interview with Mathilde Jobbé Duval

04’

By Aliénor Courtin

Staged by Tobias Kratzer for the first time during in 2020, Faust was truly discovered by the public in 2022. This production, reimagined in a contemporary fashion, uses modern technology: video projections punctuate the story and participate fully in the narrative. To mark its revival on the stage of the Opéra Bastille, Octave met Mathilde Jobbé Duval, head of the video-sound team, who presents several techniques used, including live camera and frontal projections.

I have been working at the Opera for 17 years. Today, I am a audio and video production manager. I don't participate in the intital creative process, but as of the first technical run-throughs and stage rehearsals. My job, together with the whole team, is to study the project's feasibility and to do everything possible to bring it to fruition. It's always very satisfying to take part in creations because you really work on building something with the director and his teams.

For Faust, the director, Tobias Kratzer, and the video artist, Manuel Braun, came up with an ambitious video installation. A frontal projection on a tulle covering the entire proscenium combines pre-created images and live video.

Most of the videos were shot by drone in the streets of Paris during the lockdown. Others were taken from archive stockshots. For the scene of "La Chevauchée", two extras playing Faust and Mephistopheles shot the images in costume on the Champs-Elysées by night. Manuel Braun also chose to use special effects to animate certain images. This is the case of the scene showing Notre-Dame de Paris in flames.

Once all these images had been shot and edited, and Tobias Kratzer and Manuel Braun had selected the shots to appear on the screen, my job was to assemble the projection and make it as attractive as possible. I made corrections to colours and angles, cropping and harmonising formats. Most of my work is therefore prepared in advance so that everything runs smoothly during the performance. Then, during the performance, I make sure that the broadcast goes smoothly.

One of the most used video systems is the live camera. The soloists are filmed live by two cameramen who are two of the extras playing Mephistopheles' demons. I am in contact with them throughout the performance to assist with their movements and to check that the setting is clear before being projected live, depending on the camera feedback I see from my control room. This system is used in Marguerite's "Jewel Aria" scene and also in Dame Marthe's flat and in the metro.

© Charles Duprat / OnP

I am also in contact with the stage manager who gives me the cues. That is, she indicates the exact moments at which I should launch the images, according to musical cues. In the case of the live scenes, the camera sequences were defined when the production was created with the previous performer of Marguerite (editor's note: the performer in 2021 was Ermonela Jaho and in 2022, Angel Blue). The two singers do not follow exactly the same movements, so we have to adapt the sequence of images. It's still live! To sum up, as a video operator, I pay attention to the artists' movements and the stage manager to the music.

Tobias Kratzer's direction is very readable, the story is told literally so the videos are very realistic. Of course, some scenes are more fanciful than others, like that of "La Chevauchée". But it remains a narrative video, every frame moves the story forward.

© Elena Bauer / OnP

Singing to tell the tale

01’

Video

Singing to tell the tale

Interview with Benjamin Bernheim

By Konstantinos Aspiotis

It's the story of a man who, upon reaching the twilight of his life, wishes for one thing alone: to recapture his youth. He achieves this with the help of the devil and in exchange for his soul. A multi-faceted character, the role of Faust in Charles Gounod's opera of the same name requires the performer to embody disenchanted old age whilst at the same time lending his voice to a romantic and lovestruck young man. Tenor Benjamin Bernheim explains all the vocal subtleties of the score and retraces the great tradition of French singing, without overlooking his special relationship with the Paris Opera.


Faust
Faust 34 images

Recipe of the day: Faust

000:47’

Video

Recipe of the day: Faust

Ingredients of Tobias Kratzer's stage production

By Octave

Imaginary Faust

01:03’

Video

Imaginary Faust

A repertoire work narrated in a visual poem born of popular culture

By Octave

“I want a treasure which contains them all! I want youth!” Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite… Reworking the legend popularised by Goethe, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. Choosing to lighten the narrative’s philosophical scope allows him to strike a balance between scenes where the supernatural calls for the visually spectacular and others depicting a universe governed by inward actions and feelings. Transposed to the present day, Tobias Kratzer’s Faust reflects on contemporary society’s obsession with eternal youth. His production’s sophisticated scenography oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, between the world of today and the mysterious atmosphere of German romanticism.  

Draw-me Faust

01:35’

Video

Draw-me Faust

Understand the plot in 1 minute

By Octave

I want a treasure, which contains them all! I want youth! Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite… Reworking the legend which Goethe popularised, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. His decision to lighten the philosophical scope of the narrative allowed him to balance scenes where the supernatural called for something visually spectacular with a parallel microcosm governed by inner actions and feelings. Gounod’s score is a tour de force of melodic invention whose vocal composition reveals the composer’s skill at conveying sincere and immediate emotion.
For his Paris Opera debut, German director Tobias Kratzer reflects on contemporary society’s obsession for eternal youth. With its sophisticated scenography, his production oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, the world of today and the eerie atmosphere of German romanticism. 
 


Faust by Charles Gounod
Reworking the legend which Goethe popularised, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation.  

© Eléna Bauer / OnP

A new Faust for the Opéra Bastille

05:10’

Video

A new Faust for the Opéra Bastille

Interview with Tobias Kratzer

By Octave

Staging Faust and getting to grips with one of the world's best-known operas? German director Tobias Kratzer takes up the challenge. He tells us how the French myth differs from Goethe's masterpiece and promises us a spectacular evening for his Paris Opera debut.  

Faust
Faust 34 images

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