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" Images always have an impact " : Arcom launches its youth signage awareness raising campaign.
Among the many actions taken by Arcom to protect youngsters, particular attention is paid to protecting young audiences from unsuitable content. Youth signage is the key tool in Arcom's scheme to protect young people and persons under 18.
More info on Arcom website.
Opera in three acts with a libretto by Paolo Rolli, first performed in London in 1735.
Live from the Royal Opera of Versailles, 2024.
Franco Fagioli · Julia Lezhneva · Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian · José Coca Loza · Éléonore Pancrazi
Académie de danse baroque & Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Stefan Plewniak, conductor
Justin Way, director
Pierre-François Dollé, choreography
Christian Lacroix, costumes
Roland Fontaine, sets
In 1735, Porpora challenged Handel in London with Polifemo, a work that still resonates today as a vibrant ode to triumphant love. On the bewitching shores of Sicily, Galatea falls in love with the mortal Acis. This pure passion arouses the fierce jealousy of the Cyclops Polifemo, whose rage threatens to sweep everything away. But the unexpected arrival of Ulysses and the intrigues hatched by Calypso weave a complex web where gods and
mortals clash. Carried by a constellation of exceptional soloists and conducted by Stefan Plewniak, this opera masterfully weaves together the legacy of a baroque golden age and the timeless power of myth.
Recorded from December 4th to 9th 2024 at the Royal Opera House of the Palace of Versailles.
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here.
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here.
HENRY PURCELL (1659-1695)
DIDO & AENEAS
Opera in three acts with a libretto by Nahum Tate, first performed in London in 1689.
Sonya Yoncheva • Halidou Nombre • Sarah Charles • Attila Varga-Tóth
Chœur & Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Stefan Plewniak, conductor
Cécile Roussat et Julien Lubek, Director, costumes, choreography, sets and lights.
The English musical Renaissance reached its apogee with Henry Purcell. Inspired by French pomp and Italian melodies, he forged a unique style, blending royal splendour with an authentic British spirit. His masterpiece, Dido and Aeneas, is a timeless lyrical gem, exploring the eternal tragedy of love and abandonment. The majestic Sonya Yoncheva plays Dido, the queen in love betrayed by fate, while Halidou Nombre gives voice to the passions of Aeneas, torn between his love and the call of Rome, who is caught up in an intrigue hatched by dark forces. At the Opéra Royal of Versailles, the music of the Orpheus britannicus resonates with eternal splendour, magnified by the dreamlike staging of Cécile Roussat and Julien Lubek. Their masterful approach, combining mime, dance and acrobatics, transforms every moment into a magical tableau, sublimated by the fervour of the young soloists from the Académie de l’Opéra Royal.
Show recorded by Wahoo on October 19th 2024 at the Royal Opera of Versailles.
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here.
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY (1632-1687)
ATYS
A tragedy in a prologue and five acts, with a libretto by Philippe Quinault, premiered in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1676.
Matthew Newlin · Giuseppina Bridelli · Ana Quintans · Andreas Wolf
Chœur de Chambre de Namur
Chœur et Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève
Cappella Mediterranea
Leonardo García-Alarcón, conductor
When Atys was first performed before the court in 1676, Lully was at the peak of his triumph: his tragédie lyrique became "the King's opera," so highly did the monarch esteem its quality. The chords unfold to embody human passions and divine wills, guiding the young Atys’s romantic impulses and the wounded fury of the goddess Cybèle. With Atys, Lully establishes love as the central thread of the drama, weaving around this sovereign passion a tale where the impulses of the heart, celestial jealousies, and human flaws intertwine to seal the fate of the heroes. Leonardo García-Alarcón conducts this new version with exquisite finesse, elevating Lully's music to carry souls into an enchanting dream.
This recording is dedicated to the memory of Florence Malgoire.
Recorded from 28th to 31st March 2023.
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here.
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here.
PLÁCIDO DOMINGO THE VERSAILLES GALA
Verdi · Puccini · Berlioz · Giordano · Cilea · Massenet · Lehár
A selection of the greatest opera arias
· Plácido Domingo, baryton
· Jennifer Rowley, soprano
· Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
· Zhang Zhang, violon 1, solo
· Laurent Campellone, direction
Plácido Domingo has held a unique place in the history of opera for six decades. Eighty years young, this Madrileño is a lion of the stage who is putting on a Gala for the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles worthy of the French public’s great admiration for him. Accompanied by the Orchestra of the Opéra Royal under the direction of Laurent Campellone, in a duet with the dazzling Jennifer Rowley, Plácido Domingo performs at Versailles as a living legend, for an unforgettable evening.
Recorded on Saturday April 2nd 2022 at the Royal Opera of the Château de Versailles.
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here.
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here.
Isaure Brunner Soprano
Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin Baritone
Chœur de l’Opera Royal
Orchestre de l’Opera Royal
Victor Jacob Conductor
For the 100th anniversary of Gabriel Fauré’s death.
Fauré’s Requiem occupies a singular place among the sacred works that have made their mark on the repertoire. Far from the operatic or thunderous requiems of Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms or Verdi, this is an intimate score of modest means, but with a very French seductiveness. Of course, Fauré did not want to outdo his glorious predecessors, but to keep up with the times, when Parisian piety was within the reach of the faithful, and he was undoubtedly more in line with the recent requiems by Liszt and Saint-Saëns.
Premièred at the Madeleine in 1888, for an architect’s New Year’s Eve ceremony, this (deceptively) confident work quickly enjoyed considerable success in concert. “Some have said that my Requiem does not express the fear of death, others have called it a death lullaby. But that is how I feel about death: a happy release, an aspiration to the happiness of the afterlife, rather than a painful passage.”
In this, the centenary year of Gabriel Fauré’s death, it is fitting that his most emblematic sacred work should be performed: the Requiem he put on at La Madeleine for the centenary of the execution of Louis XVI on 21 January 1893. This was followed by numerous performances around the world, and often enlarged versions for concert halls. Of this truly inspired Requiem, Victor Jacob has decided to perform the “church” version with a chamber orchestra (without violins, but with violas!), following the 1893 arrangement. He completes the programme with spiritual works by Rossini, Schubert and Brahms, beautifully showcasing the choristers of whom Fauré, as Chapel Master of La Madeleine, was particularly fond. The Choir and Orchestra of the Opéra Royal of the Château de Versailles create a sublime setting for this clutch of masterpieces.
Productions of the Royal Opera.
This concert is presented with the exceptional support of ADOR – Les Amis de l’Opéra Royal.
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Joëlle Broguet, founding member of ADOR – les Amis de l’Opéra Royal.
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Stefan Plewniak, violin and conductor
Malandain Ballet Biarritz
Thierry Malandain, choreography
On the one hand, the despair of humanity facing the irrevocable fading of the seasons, on the other, the sublime eternity of nature’s renewal... These are the two worlds developed by Thierry Malandain in Les Saisons, a ballet interweaving The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and The Four Seasons of the Year by Giovanni Antonio Guido. The Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal, under the direction of Stefan Plewniak, delivers a nuanced interpretation of these well-known arias, freshly accompanying the dancers of Malandain Ballet Biarritz.
Performance recorded on December 15th 2023, at the Royal Opera of the Château de Versailles by Les Films Figures Libres, with the participation of Mezzo and medici.tv
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Under the patronage of Aline Foriel-Destezet
Gaétan Jarry Conductor
Linard Vrielink Evangélist Tenor
Moritz Kallenberg Tenor
Nicolas Brooymans Jésus Bass-baritone
Halidou Nombre* Pilate, Baritone
Solistes et chœurs du Tölzer Knabenchor
*Member of the Académie de l’Opéra Royal
Of the two passions of Bach which have been preserved, St. John was the first one to be composed, and was improved several times by the Cantor for different performances between 1724 and 1747. At Saint-Thomas Church in Leipzig, Bach had a choir and instrumental ensemble that was sufficiently well-trained to allow for the virtuosity of the arias and choruses of this rich passion, and he pushed the rhetoric to the extreme by emphasising the dramatic text as much as the doloristic text that it was meant to embody. It was by far the most extensive of his compositions and remains a favourite among audiences today for its extraordinary humanity.
Barely one year after his arrival in Leipzig, he performed this first great masterpiece for Good Friday in 1724. As such, you will be attending this exceptional evening on the three-hundred-year anniversary of the première of this masterful work. The Orchestra of the Opéra Royal, directed by Gaétan Jarry, will welcome renowned soloists and the formidable Tölzer Knabenchor.
Founded in 1956 near Munich, this boys’ choir is now the heir of seven decades of the most outstanding choral work. The choir – and in particular its young soloists – have performed around the world with, among others, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch, James Levine and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Today, it is the greatest children’s choir and especially dazzling in the German holy music repertoire, which the boys sing with joy in their own language. Unforgettable.
The Productions of the Royal Opera
An opera in three acts to a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa, premièred at La Scala in Milan in 1796.
Franco Fagioli · Adèle Charvet · Krystian Adam · Valentino Buzza · Nicolò Balducci · Florie Valiquette
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Stefan Plewniak, conductor
Gilles Rico, director
Roland Fontaine, sets
Christian Lacroix, costumes
Bertrand Couderc, lighting
In an intrigue-filled Verona, Giulietta and her beloved Romeo struggle to live out their love in the face of conflicts between their families… Inspired by Luigi Da Porto’s original 16th-century novella, Niccoló Antonio Zingarelli breathed new life into this iconic tale : from its premiere in 1796, this flamboyant opera seria became Napoleon I’s favourite opera. Gilles Rico chooses to set the play at the dawn of the 19th century, and skilfully stages the torments of the two young heroes, torn between their family duty and the violent passion that seizes them, all underlined by Roland Fontaine’s grandiose sets and Christian Lacroix’s splendid costumes.
You may find the booklet, available in French and English, by clicking here
You may find this recording on our online shop by clicking here
Chœur de l’Opéra Royal
Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal
Gaétan Jarry Conductor
Of all the major ceremonies performed by European monarchies in the pre-Revolutionary era, the Rite of Coronation was obviously the most symbolic and lavish, followed in musical intensity by the royal wedding or funeral. It is for the English monarchy that the music has been best preserved since the mid-17th century: here we find the most sumptuous ceremonial music of the Anglican sacred repertoire.
This Grand Style marked the pomp and ceremony of the English Crown: drum rolls and glorious trumpet fanfares heralded the acclamations of Westminster. God Save the King!