Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Couv_Lady_Macbeth_De_Mzensk_780x90616

Libretto

Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean parallel is here bitterly ironic: unlike Lady Macbeth, Katerina Ismaïlova who, in the remote reaches of rural 19th century Russia, falls in love with one of her husband’s employees and is finally forced to commit suicide, is less a manipulator than a victim of a violent and patriarchal society.Krzysztof Warlikowski liberates all the subversive power of this scorching and scandalous work, which marked the early years of the Opéra Bastille. Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris.A co-production of the Opéra national de Paris, Telmondis and Mezzo With the support of the Orange Foundation, patron of the Paris Opera's audiovisual broadcasts, and the Centre national du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée.Director: Stéphane Metge © Opéra national de Paris – Telmondis – Mezzo - 2019Picture: © Bernd Uhlig / OnP

<ul><li>Boris Timofeyevich Izmailov: Owner of an industrial slaughterhouse</li><li>Zinoviy Borisovich Izmailov: Son of Boris and heir to the business</li><li>Katerina Lvovna Ismailova: Zinoviy’s wife</li><li>Sergei: An employee of the Izmailovs and Katerina’s lover</li><li>Aksinya: A young girl in the Izmailovs’ service</li><li>A shabby peasant: A worker in the Izmailovs’ service who is drunk most of the time</li><li>The orthodox priest</li><li>The police commissioner</li><li>Sonietka: A young prisoner</li></ul>

Lady Macbeth de Mzensk

fr / en

Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean pa

Dmitri Chostakovitch

Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906 in Saint Petersburg. It was in this same city, successively called Petrograd, then Leningrad, that he studied and witnessed the First World War, the two episodes of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the first years of the Soviet regime. It was there that he had his first successes in his youth: Symphony No. 1, premiered in 1926, then performed in Berlin under the direction of Bruno Walter, ballet music, film music, and a provocatively modern opera (The Nose). But in 1936, at the height of the Stalinist terror, the composer was accused of writing music that offended the values of Soviet society and was publicly criticized and humiliated. The following year, however, he responded to his critics with one of his most important works: his Fifth Symphony. In 1940, "rehabilitated", he was awarded the Stalin Prize for his Quintet for Piano and Strings. The radiance of his music was to increase even more with his Symphony No. 7, known as "Leningrad", the first three movements of which were composed in wartime, at the beginning of the bloody nightmare of the Nazi siege of Leningrad in 1941. After World War II, Shostakovich moved to Moscow, where, during the last years of Stalinist tyranny, he was the victim of a second official campaign of public condemnation and degradation in 1948. During these years, Shostakovich turned more and more to the intimacy of chamber music, and especially to the string quartet. In the late 1950s, the composer's reputation changed again and he became a totemic figure in official Soviet culture. He even agreed to join the Communist Party, a decision that earned him official approval and a new status, but which caused him to lose the sympathy and support of some of his colleagues and admirers within the Russian musical world. During the last years of his life, Shostakovich, who was ill, wrote music that was bare, melancholic, elusive, and that undoubtedly reflected his regrets and experiences. He died in Moscow in 1975.

Dmitry Ulyanov was born in Ekaterinburg and has been a soloist at the Stanislavsky Theatre since 2000. That same year, he won the Grand Prize at the International Competition for Singers at the UNESCO Festival in Kazakhstan. He performs many of the great basso roles from the Russian repertoire (Ivan Khovansky and Dosifey (Khovanshchina), Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Pimen and the title role in Boris Godunov, Konchak and Galitsky (Prince Igor), and Tsar Dodon (The Golden Cockerel). His other roles include Procida in Les Vêpres siciliennes, Philip II in Don Carlo, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Ramfis and the King of Egypt in Aida, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del destino, Banco in Macbeth (a role in which he made his Paris Opera debut), Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cardinal Brogni in La Juive, Marcel in Les Huguenots, Escamillo in Carmen, the Four Demons in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Hunding in Die Walküre, Hermann in Tannhäuser, and Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer. He has made guest appearances at the Rhine Opera in Strasbourg, the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, the Marseille Opera, The Aix Festival, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Maestranza in Seville, the ABAO in Bilbao, the Flanders Opera, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Over the last few seasons, he made his Vienna Staatsoper debut in Prokofiev’s The Gambler (the General), his Düsseldorf debut at the Deutsche Oper in Aida, his Amsterdam debut at the Dutch National Opera in Prince Igor (Konchak and Galitsky), his Salzburg Festival debut and his Naples debut at the Teatro San Carlo in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, his Lyon Opera debut in Iolanta (King René), and his Barcelona debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Il Barbieri di Siviglia. Last season, he sang the role of Attila for the first time at the Lyon Opera. In 2015, he was named “Best Male Singer of the Year” for his performance as Ivan Khovansky at the “Casta Diva” Russian Opera Awards.Projects: Galitski at the Paris Opera, Philip II at the Teatro Real in Madrid, The Grand Inquisitor at the Vienna Staatsoper, Boris Godunov at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Daland at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and Dodon (The Golden Cockerel) at the Aix Festival.

John Daszak made his debut at the English National Opera performing the role of Steva in Jenůfa.&nbsp;Soon thereafter, he was making guest appearances at some of the most prestigious international theatres performing a roster of roles that included Hérode (Salomé) at the Royal Opera House in London; Grishka Kuterma (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya) at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; the title role in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; the Drum Major (Wozzeck) at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden and the Salzburg Festival; and Capitain Vere (Billy Budd) at the Frankfurt Opera.&nbsp;He has also performed at the Paris Opera in Kátia Kabanová (Boris),&nbsp;Salammbô (Mâtho), Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District&nbsp;(Zinovy), La Khovantchina (Prince Golitsine) and Wozzeck (the Drum Major).&nbsp;He made his Bayreuth Festival debut in 2015 as Loge in Das Rheingold&nbsp;and his house debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera in Billy Budd. He also sang the title role of Peter Grimes at Milan’s La Scala, as well as the role of the Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia) and Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw) at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. His other performances include the roles of Gustav von Aschenbach (Death in Venice) at the Teatro Real in Madrid; Aron (Moses und Aron) at the Vienna Staatsoper and the Berlin Komische Oper; Sergei (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) at the English National Opera and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow; the title role of Siegfried at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva; Aegisth (Elektra) at the Royal Opera House in London and at the Hamburg Staatsoper; Erik (Der Fliegende Holländer) in Sydney; Andrei Khovansky (Khovanshchina) in Frankfurt; Kaufman (Jakob Lenz) at the 2019 Aix Festival; Hérode (Salomé) at the Salzburg Festival and the Theater an der Wien; and Shuysky (Boris Godunov) at the Zurich Opera.&nbsp;John Daszak makes frequent guest appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, where he recently sang the roles of the Drum Major in Wozzeck. He also performs in concert (Mahler’s Symphony N°8, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Verdi’s Requiem).During the season 2022/2023, he will perform Aegisth at the Munich&nbsp;Bayerische Staatsoper and the Hamburg Staatsoper, and Zinovy at the Grand Théâtre in Geneva.

Daszak

Stundyte.Ausrine.2

Pavel Černoch made his professional debut in his native city, Brno, followed by appearances in Prague, Riga, Cagliari, Athens, Graz and Vienna. He studied at the Janáček Academy in Brno and then in Italy. He makes regular appearances at the Teatro alla Scala Milan, Amsterdam Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, at the Salzburg and Glyndebourne Festivals, under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko, Simon Rattle and Semyon Bychkov. His repertoire includes the roles of Max (Der Freischütz), Lenski (Eugene Onegin) and Laca (Jenůfa) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Cavaradossi (Tosca) at La Monnaie in Brussels, the title-role in Don Carlo and Rodolfo (La Bohème) at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, Giasone (Médée) at the Salzburg Festival, Boris (Katia Kabanova) at the Royal Opera House, Don José (Carmen) at the Greek National Opera, Jenik (The bartered bride) at the Prague National Theatre, Lykov (The Tsar’s Bride) and Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and Teatro alla Scala in Milan. More recently, he sang the roles of Florestan (Fidelio) and Apollo (Daphné) at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, Cavaradossi in Hamburg and Prague, Laca at the Theater an der Wien, the Prince (Rusalka) at the Dresden Semperoper, the Dutch national Opera and in Prague, Pinkerton and the title-role in Faust at the Hamburg Staatsoper. Pavel Černoch frequently appears as concert soloist and performed Beethoven’s 9° Symphony with Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Mahler’s Song of the Earth with Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and Verdi’s Requiem at the Bergen Festival. In the next seasons, he will make his stage debut at the Chicago Lyric Opera and New YorkMetropolitan Opera.



At the Paris Opera: The Bartered Bride, (Jenik), 2010; Rusalka (le Prince), 2015; Eugene Onegin (Lenski), 2017; Don Carlo (rôle-titre), 2017; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Serguei), 2019; Prince Igor (Vladimir), 2019

Cernoch.Pavel (c) Lenka Hatasova

Sofija Petrovič was born in Belgrade and began her musical studies on the violin before focusing on singing. She studied at the Belgrade Faculty of Music with the soprano Ljudmila Gross and graduated there in 2014. In 2012, she was awarded the Grand Prize at the Republican Competition in Serbia and was a finalist at the Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition in Austria. She attended the masterclasses of Elena Obraztsova in Saint Petersburg and Daniele Ferro in Tuscany. In 2014, she entered the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts where she studied under Bill Schuman, voice coach at the Juilliard School. As part of her training, she worked with renowned artists from the American and International scenes, including Danielle Orlando, David Lofton, Audrey Saint Gil, Richard Raub, Luke Housner and Christopher Macatsoris and she appeared in numerous performances and concerts. She has also worked with Martina Arroyo in New York and Ludovic Tézier in Nancy. From January 2016 to June 2018, she was a member of the Paris Opera Academy (Atelier Lyrique). She also took part in the masterclasses of Luciana d’Intino, Ildar Abdrazakov, Raina Kabaivanska, and Sondra Radvanovsky. Her repertoire of roles includes Mrs Coyle in Owen Wingrave, the Opera Singer in La Ronde and the Diva in a performance based on the works of Kurt Weill at the Bastille Amphitheatre. She sang in the Academy concerts at the Palais Garnier in 2017 (Ariadne’s aria in Ariadne auf Naxos) and again in 2018 (in the role of Cassandra in Les Troyens).Projects: Mademoiselle Jouvenot (Adriana Lecouvreur) at the Paris Opera.

a_sperrhacke_021sw

Oksana Volkova was born in Minsk, Belarus and has earned numerous distinctions for singing, including first prize at the 12th Mikhail Glinka Festival. Since 2010, she has made regular guest appearances at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow performing a number of roles, including Liubacha (The Tsar’s Bride), Laura (The Stone Guest), Paulina (The Queen of Spades), Olga (Eugene Onegin) and the title role in Carmen. In 2016, she received the National Theatre Award in Belarus for her interpretation of the Bizet heroine and she has appeared as Carmen at numerous international opera venues (Buenos Aires, the Salzburg Landestheater, Tokyo, Riga, Tallinn, and Vilnius). She made her Milan debut at La Scala in Cavalleria rusticana (Lola). She has also been invited to perform at New York’s Metropolitan Opera (Sonietka, Olga, Maddalena in Rigoletto), London’s Royal Opera House (Olga), Beijing’s NCPA (Dalila and Carmen), Palermo’s Teatro Massimo (Laura in La Gioconda), the Nice Opera (Marguerite in La Damnation de Faust), and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana). During the 2017 / 2018 season, she made her Salzburg Festival debut (Paulina) under the direction of Mariss Jansons and her Geneva debut at the Grand Theatre (Santuzza). She also sang the roles of Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera and Olga at the Hamburg Staatsoper. 

Projects: Carmen, The Queen of Spades, and The Stone Guest at the Bolshoi Theatre, Verdi’s Requiem at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons. 

Oksana Volkova is making her Paris Opera debut

Popov

Krzysztof Bączyk graduated from the Poznań Music Academy and was a member of the Young Artists Akademia Operowa Programme (Polish national Opera) and of the Poznań Grand Theatre Opera Academy, where he performed in Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk, Thomas's Hamlet, Aida, Eugene Onegin, Le Nozze di Figaro, Parsifal, Don Giovanni and Der Freischütz.&nbsp;In 2012, he took part in the Aix Festival Academy's Lyrical Workshop which was the marking point of an intense collaboration with the Festival during the following years: he returned in various productions such as Cavalli's Elena, The Magic Flute, Alcina, Don Giovanni and The Fiery Angel.&nbsp;In January 2016, he made his Warsaw Opera debut in the role of Publio (La clemenza di Tito), and then returned in The Magic Flute, Carmen and The Fiery Angel. In the following seasons, he performed at the Paris Opera (Don Carlos, Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk, Tosca, The Barber of Seville, Iolanta, Il Pirata), at the Teatro Real, Madrid (Don Giovanni), the Lyric Opera, Chicago (The Barber of Seville), the Zurich Opernhaus (I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Alcina, Lucia di Lammermoor, Don Giovanni, La Bohème), the Arena di Verona (Aida, Carmen, Tosca), the Bilbao ABAO-Olbe (La Bohème) and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Alcina). In concerts, he sang in Mozart's Requiem at the Opéra national de Lorraine, Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Capitole de Toulouse and the Philadelphia Orchestras.&nbsp;During season 2021/22, he made his debut at the Glyndebourne Festival in Luisa Miller, at the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra de Rouen in The Magic Flute, and the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, in Don Giovanni. He returned to the Teatro Real, Madrid, in La Bohème and to the Paris Opera in Don Giovanni, and then sang in Le Nozze di Figaro in Wrocław, and in Mozart's Requiem with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Krzysztof-Baczyk

Marianne Croux, a Franco-Belgian soprano trained at the CNSM in Paris, is a rising opera star. Consecrated Révélation lyrique by ADAMI in 2017, she has joined the Académie de l'Opéra National de Paris until 2019. Awarded the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2018, she was honored in Belgium as an Officier du mérite wallon. Marianne also shone at the Académie d'Aix-en- Provence in 2021 and at the Belvedere Hans Gabor Competition in 2022.Renowned for her performances at the Opéra National de Paris, she has appeared in Stravinsky's "Noces", Ravel's "L'enfant et les Sortilèges" and Strauss's "Elektra". Her debut at the Rome Opera as Zerlina and her Micaëla at the Capitole were acclaimed. Passionate about contemporary music, she has sung in works by Betsy Jolas and Gilbert Amy, and was Damien Lehman's muse for "Hansel and Gretel". Recently, she excelled at the Dijon Opera in "The Turn of the Screw", and has appeared in concert in Munich and Bordeaux.

Marianne Croux

Alexander Tsymbalyuk was born in Ukraine and studied at the Odessa Conservatory. He continued his training with Ludmila Ivanova, Vasiliy Navrotskiy and Paata Burchuladze. A winner of numerous prizes (the Elena Obraztsova Competition in Moscow in 2006, the Riccardo Zandonai Competition in Italy and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2007), he began his career in the troupe of Hamburg’s Staatsoper and soon found himself making guest appearances at some of the great international opera venues. He has performed the roles of Sparafucile (Rigoletto) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Bolshoi Theatre, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Lyric Opera in Chicago; Fafner (Das Rheingold with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Myung-Whun Chung), Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Timur (Turandot), Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra) at Milan’s La Scala; Prince Gudal (Rubinstein’s The Demon) in Moscow and at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; the title role of Boris Godunov at Munich’s Bayerische Staatsoper; Timur at the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayerische Staasoper, Raimondo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), the Chief of Police and the Old Convict (Lady Macbeth of The Mtsensk District), Fasolt (Das Rheingold ) at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Ferrando (Il Trovatore) at the Royal Opera House; Angelotti (Tosca) at the Baden-Baden Festival, Prince Gremin (Eugene Onegin) at the Hamburg Staatsoper; the Commendatore (Don Giovanni), King René (Iolanta), Angelotti, Prince Gremin, the title role in Boris Godunov, and the Chief of Police and the Old Convict (Lady Macbeth of The Mtsensk District) at the Paris Opera. Alexander Tsymbalyuk also performs in concert: Verdi’s Requiem at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Schönberg’s Gurrelieder at the Vienna Konzerthaus with Zubin Mehta; Boito’s Mefistofele at the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome with Antonio Pappano, Rigoletto at the Hollywood Bowl with Gustavo Dudamel, and Otello at the Barbican Centre in London with Sir Colin Davis… He also appeared at the Teatro Real in Madrid for the first time (as Fafner in Das Rheingold and as the Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo) and he sang the title role of Boris Godunov at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.

Alexandre Tsymbalyuk

Born in Belgrade, Sava Vemić studied music and voice at the University of Arts in his hometown and continued it as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program from 2014 to 2017. He received several awards, including first Prizes at the 2016 Opera Index International Vocal Competition in New York and the 2014 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. He made his professional debut as Sarastro (The Magic Flute) in Belgrade, and then performed Count Rodolfo in Bellini’s La Sonnambula at the Juilliard Theatre, Osmin (Il Seraglio) and Bartolo (Le Nozze di Figaro) with the International Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. He made his stage debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York during the 2016/17 season in Nabucco (High Priest), before singing Prince Gremin (Eugen Onegin) with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Sparafucile (Rigoletto) at the Guatemalan National Theatre, and the bass part in Haydn’s Nelson Mass at the Carnegie Hall. The following seasons, he sang Prince Gremine in Hawaii and made his debut in the Aix-en-Provence Festival (a servant in Ariadne auf Naxos) and the Verbier Festival (Sparafucile and Quinault in Adriana Lecouvreur). He has sung Sarastro at the New National Theatre Tokyo, the Death (Der Kaiser von Atlantis) at the Maestranza in Seville, Sarastro, Sparafucile, Henri VIII (Anna Bolena), Crespel (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and the Commander (Don Giovanni) at Staattheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, and the King of Egypt (Aida) at the Arena di Verona. During the 2023/24 season, he is Oroveso (Norma) at the Odeon Herodes Atticus Theater in Athens, Don Fernando (Fidelio) with the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, Méphistophélès (Faust) at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, Bauer (Gurrelieder) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and Faust (The Fiery Angel) at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari.



At the Paris Opera: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Chief of Police/an Officer), 2019; Tosca (Cesare Angelotti), 2019, 2022; Don Carlo (a Monk), 2019; Salomé (Fifth Jew), 2022

Vemic.Sava (c) Miloš Lužanin 2020 NB

Member of the Troupe lyrique de l'Opéra national de ParisIn 2002, Florent Mbia joined Françoise Petro's singing class at the École nationale de musique de Montreuil. In 2008, he was awarded a first prize in singing with congratulations from the jury, and a diploma in chamber music studies in 2009. He has taken part in numerous training courses and masterclasses with artists such as Jose Cura and Thomas Moser. In 2008, he was a finalist in the Strasbourg International Singing Competition, and won the E. J. Marshall prize (best baritone) at the Paris International Competition (UFAM), degree "Honneur". In 2009, he won first prize at the Forum lyrique européen d'Arles, first prize at the Concours international de chant de Clermont-Ferrand and joined the Chœurs de l'Opéra national de Paris. He became resident artist at the Centre lyrique Clermont-Auvergne during the 2010-2011 season. He sings Norton (La cambiale di matrimonio) and the bass role in Rossini's Petite Messe solennelle.He has appeared as the Second Companion (Wozzeck), Montano (Otello), Orpheus (Orpheus and Eurydice), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Big Bill Bug (L'Enfant aux cheveux bleus, created by Michel Zbar), the Notary (Don Pasquale), Don Giovanni and Don Alfonso in the show Mozart se déguise directed by Stephen Taylor. In 2021, he performs the role of Laurence (Le Magnifique) at the Opéra de Reims. He has appeared as soloist in concerts, oratorios and masses such as Duruflé's Requiem, Faure's Requiem, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Handel's Messiah and Carmina Burana, under conductors including Jose Cura, Claude Schnitzler and Michel Pelletier. He joins the Troupe lyrique de l'Opéra national de Paris for the 2023-2024 season. At Opéra national de Paris: La Bohème (the Customs Sergeant), 2017; Mzensk's Lady Macbeth (a stage manager), 2019; Otello (Araldo), 2019; Tosca (a jailer), 2021; Rigoletto (the Count of Ceprano), 2021; La Force du destin (a mayor), 2022; Turandot (Ping), 2023; La Traviata (Il Marchese d'Obigny), 2024

Rigoletto - 5

Julien Joguet began taking voice lessons as a child in Nantes. In 2005 he was awarded a prize for voice and chamber music in the class of Yves Sotin at the Angers Conservatory whilst also studying Dramatic Art.He began his career as a freelance artist for a number of choruses (the Paris Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, Strasbourg Opera, Tours Opera, Rennes Opera…). He became a tenured artist of the Paris Opera Chorus in September 2010. He perfected his vocal technique with Guy Flechter and followed a number of different masterclasses with Martine Surray, Magali Damonte, Ghyslaine Raphanel and Sergei Murzaev.As a soloist, he has performed in Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, Schein’s Israelisbrunnlein and in concerts with the Akademia ensemble. His repertoire includes the roles of the Commendatore (Don Giovanni), Mustafa (L’Italiana in Algeri) and Basilio (The Barber of Seville).He has appeared in numerous productions at the Paris Opera (Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Chausson’s King Arthus, Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron, Strauss’s Capriccio, Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier and The Snow Maiden). At the Paris Opera: La Gioconda (un cantore), 2013; Moses und Aron (Solostimme), 2015; Capriccio (Diener), 2016; Der Rosenkavalier (a cavalier), 2016; The Snow Maiden (Candlemas), 2017; Lohengrin (A Nobleman of Brabant ), 2017; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (a porter), 2019; Manon (First Guard), 2020, 2022

Joguet

Hyun-Jong Roh studied music at Hansei University, South Korea, before studying singing at the Parma Conservatory with Giuliano Ciannella and Lelio Capilupi. In France, he studied at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatoire with Liliane Mazeron, where he unanimously obtained the First Prize in Singing. Since 2002 he has won many international singing competitions: Minerbio, Umberto Sacchetti, Mantua, Rhodesne, Riccardo Zandonai, Marmande... Hyun-Jong Roh has also performed numerous recitals in Korea, France and Italy.



On the concert platform, he has been a solo tenor in Franz Liszt’s Gaudeamus Igitur (cathedral of Parma) and has been invited to perform as a solo tenor in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris for Mystère de la conversion de Paul Claudel by composer François Narboni. On the operatic stage, Hyun-Jong Roh has portrayed Giuseppe in La Traviata at Seoul Opera, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto and Rodolphe in La Bohème in Parma, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola at the Île‑de‑France Festival. 



At the Paris Opera: Lohengrin (Ein brabantische Edle), 2017 ; Don Carlo (Un araldo), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Nathanaël), 2020

Member of the Paris Opera ChorusBorn in 1963 in Parma, Paolo Bondi studied music and the classics in Italy. As an artist in the chorus of Parma’s Teatro Regio he performed numerous solo roles in various operas, including Madama Butterfly and La Bohème, Rigoletto, Manon and Die Entführung aus dem Serail.He has been a chorus artist in several Italian theatres including the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, the Verona Arena, and the Teatro Comunale in Turin, to name but a few. At the same time, he sings regularly in concert and recital, performing opera arias and works from the repertoire of Italian melodies.He completed his vocal technique under the guidance of Maestro Paolo Valieri, assistant to conductor Carlo Maria Giulini at Teatro alla Scala, and with the soloist and singing teacher Sergio Bertocchi. He has been a member of the Paris Opera Chorus since 1999. At the Paris Opera: Manon (un vendeur), 2001, 2004 ; La Guerre et
la Paix (a French abbé, Monsieur de Beausset), 2005 ; Lady
Macbeth of Mzensk (a foreman), 2019 ; La Bohème (un
venditore ambulante), 2023

Paolo Bondi

Member of the Paris Opera ChorusCyrille Lovighi was born in 1975 in Sartène (southern Corsica). He started out his training at Corsica’s Centre d’art polyphonique and in 1995 joined the men’s chorus of Sartène, led by Jean-Paul Poletti. That same year, he appeared at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Jean-Paul Poletti’s Cantata Corsica.He then went on to record a number of CDs (Polyphonies Franciscaines in 1996 on the Audivis label; Fiori di Memoria in 1998, also on the Audivis label; Messa Sulenna in 2000 for Jade Music; Cantata Corsica in 2000 conducted by Cibrian Para with Romania’s Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestra for Naïve; and Goyescas de Granados in 2004 on the Night &amp; Day label).Numerous concerts as a soloist would follow, including Jean-Paul Poletti’s Messa Sulenna with the Sartène Men’s Chorus and the Lyon Opera Orchestra under the direction of John Alldis in March 2001, then Gounod’s Mass and Bizet’s Te Deum in 2003.He was tutored by Yves Sotin at the Regional Conservatory in Angers (where he was unanimously awarded the Gold Medal in 2002) and then in the advanced class at the Regional Conservatory of Saint Maur-des-Fossés (where he was unanimously awarded the Gold Medal in 2004). In 2004, at the Théâtre 13 in Paris, he sang in the opera version of Granados’ Goyescas, an ambitious blend of theatre and opera which would also be presented at the Avignon Festival in July 2004, and at Planete Andalucia in 2005 along with an original creation entitled Flamen Corse which he himself co-authored.In June 2005, he became a full-time member of the Paris Opera Chorus.

cyrille lovighi nb

Jian-Hong Zhao was born in Datong in China. He began his career singing traditional Chinese opera in Datong. He studied theatre and music at the Theatre Institute in Beijing then went to on to the Conservatoire of Shanghai to pursue his musical studies. He began his operatic career as a soloist with Shanghai Opera. He completed his studies in Europe at the École Normale in Paris where the jury was unanimous in awarding him prizes for singing and interpretation. Whilst pursuing his career as a soloist, in 2000 he joined the Paris Opera Chorus.

Zhao

John Bernard performs in a wide repertoire, ranging from the Bel Canto to musicals. His repertoire includes Verdi’s Requiem with the Greenwich Choral Society, Henrik (A Little Night Music) at Light Opera Oklahoma and Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri) at Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York.He has performed on leading operatic stages, including the Théâtre du Châtelet, Glimmerglass Opera, Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, El Paso Opera, Toledo Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Academy of Music, Jacksonville Lyric Opera, American Opera Projects, Ohio Light Opera, Maine Grand Opera, Boston Academy of Music and Longwood Opera, in roles such as Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Fenton (Falstaff), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola), Tybalt (Romeo and Juliet), Laurie (Little Women), Camille (The Merry Widow), Don Basilio (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fernando (Goyescas), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance), Marco (The Gondoliers), Prince Hilarion (Princess Ida), John Box (Cox and Box de Sullivan), Perchik (Fiddler on the Roof).John Bernard has also performed oratorios (Judas in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with the Saint Andrew’s Music Society and Rossini’s Little Solemn Mass at Saint Thomas’s Church on 5th Avenue). He has been invited to perform with numerous American orchestras and choruses and is a member of the Paris Opera Chorus.At the Paris Opera: La Bohème (Parpignol), 2013; La Traviata (Giuseppe), 2018; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (the Coachman), 2019 ; Peter Grimes (Lawyer), 2023&nbsp;

BERNARD John

Membre of the Paris Opera TroupeFernando Velasquez was born in Chili and studied singing at the National Conservatory of the University of Chili in Santiago. He has been a member of the Paris Opera Chorus since 1997. He returns regularly to Chili to give concerts for classical music festivals.He is also a member of the Chilean quartet “Poesia”, which explores and revisits Latin-American, Spanish and Italian melodies based on the great Iberian-American poets.At the Paris Opera: Kátia Kabanová (a citizen), 2000 ; Louise (the carrot merchant), 2007; La Khovantchina (Golitsyn’s confident), 2022

VELASQUEZ Fernando

Conductor Ingo Metzmacher has distinguished himself through his innovative programming and profound dedication to twentieth and twenty-first century music; to make the new sound familiar and the familiar sound new has been Metzmacher’s focus since the beginning of his career. His 2018-2019 season includes the world premiere of Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden at the Vienna State Opera, new productions of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Paris and Enescus OEdipe at the Salzburg Festival, as well as the French premiere of Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. He returns to The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and Ensemble Modern, and conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Germany on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. In May 2019, he presents the fourth edition of the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen under his artistic direction. Metzmacher has led productions at many of the great international opera houses including the Berlin and Vienna State Operas, Covent Garden, Teatro Real, La Scala, Opéra de Paris and the Zurich Opera House. Highlights of recent seasons also include new productions of operas by Luigi Nono, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and Wolfgang Rihm at the Salzburg Festival, as well as the complete cycle of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen at Théâtre de Genève. He has conducted leading orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Metzmacher was General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera from 1997 until 2005, where he led a series of internationally acclaimed productions, many of them in collaboration with stage director Peter Konwitschny. Subsequently, he was named Chief Conductor of the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. From 2007 to 2010, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Metzmacher’s wide-ranging discography includes live recordings of his New Year’s Eve concerts in Hamburg from 1999 to 2004 entitled Who’s Afraid of 20th Century Music?, a complete recording of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s symphonies with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic, Olivier Messiaen’s Illuminations of the Beyond… with the Vienna Philharmonic. He is the author of two books: Keine Angst vor neuen Tönen [Don’t Be Afraid of New Sounds] and Vorhang auf! Oper entdecken und erleben [Curtain Up! Discovering and Experiencing Opera].

Krzysztof Warlikowski belongs to the major reformers of dramatic language in Europe. Throughout his many productions, he has renewed the stage interpretation of Shakespeare’s works and the Greek tragedies. His productions include Angels in America, Madame de Sade, Krum Ectoplasm, Koniec / The End, (A)pollonia, Un tramway, African Tales, Kabaret Warszawski, On s’en va, Phèdre(s) and Les Français. Last year, he staged at the National Theatre La Colline L’Odyssée, Une histoire pour Hollywood, which won the Best Foreign Show 2022 award. Particularly dedicated to opera, he has managed to transpose his working methods into the genre, creating a dialogue between the operatic repertoire and our time. He has directed, among other performances, The Bassarids and Elektra at the Salzburg Festival, Eugene Onegin, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Les Stigmatisés, Salomé, Tristan und Isolde and more recently Dido & Aeneas … Erwartung at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Médée, Macbeth, Lulu, Don Giovanni and The Tales of Hoffmann at La Monnaie in Brussels, Le Triomphe du temps et de la désillusion at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Pelléas et Mélisande at the Ruhrtriennale, Wozzeck in Amsterdam, From the House of the Dead at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, The Makropulos Affair, Poppea e Nerone and Alceste at the Teatro Real in Madrid, The Rake’s Progress at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin... This season, he is reviving From the House of the Dead at the Rome Opera and will stage a new production of Macbeth for the Salzburg Festival. Krzysztof Warlikowski is also the artistic director of Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr, an interdisciplinary cultural centre. In 2021, he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale.At the Paris Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2021 ; The Makropulos Affair, 2007, 2009, 2013 ; Parsifal, 2008 ; King Roger, 2009 ; Le Château de Barbe-Bleue / La Voix humaine, 2015, 2018 ; Don Carlos, 2017 ; Don Carlo, 2019 ; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, 2019 ; A Quiet Place, 2022

Set designer, creator of the sets and costumes for all of Krzysztof Warlikowski's productions, Małgorzata Szczęśniak has co-created Warlikowski's poetic language in theatre and opera. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków in 1972, and then studied Psychology at the Jagiellonian University, from 1972 to 1976. At the same time, she has run art classes for hyperactive children and participated in an art therapy project for schizophrenia patients. In 1981, while writing her doctorate thesis on the psychology of creativity, she started studying Set Design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków and graduated in 1984. She then decided to dedicate herself to theatre and moved to Paris with Krzysztof. Together, they staged their first production in 1992. Małgorzata Szczęśniak has also collaborated with many Museums: the Exhibition of Young Stage Designers in Katowice in 1994, the Prague Quadrennial in 1990 and in 2007, "Reality of transformation - transformation of reality” at the Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw. In the spring 2008, she held a solo set design exhibition in Brussels: “Appearing and Vanishing without a Trace”. She created the stage design for the exhibition "Opera World" at the Centre Pompidou Metz in 2019 and for the exhibition "Around Us a See of Fire. The Fate of Jewish Civilians During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising" for the Polin Museum in Warsaw. Małgorzata Szczęśniak is the artistic leader of the architectural project of Nowy Teatr, an interdisciplinary cultural centre in Warsaw. She was awarded Best Set Designer of the Year at the 2021 Opera Awards.

At the Paris Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride, 2006 ; The Makropulos Affair, 2007 ; Parsifal, 2008 ; King Roger, 2009 ; Le Château de Barbe-Bleue / La Voix humaine, 2015 ; Don Carlos, 2017 ; Don Carlo, 2019 ; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, 2019 ; A Quiet Place, 2022 ; Hamlet, 2023.

Felice Ross has designed the lighting for many theatre, opera and ballet productions in Europe, Korea, Israel, Great-Britain, South Africa, Japan and the United-States. Amongst her designs are the lighting for the operas of Tel Aviv (The Barber of Seville, Medium), Warsaw (The Queen of Spades, Don Carlo, Ubu Roi, Wozzeck, The Flying Dutchman), Washington (Andrea Chénier), the Munich Bayerische Staatsoper (Eugene Onegin, Die Frau ohne Shatten, Tristan und Isolde), Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia (Eugene Onegin), Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (The Rake’s Progress, Sleepless), La Monnaie in Brussels (Médée, Macbeth, Lulu, Don Giovanni), Teatro Real Madrid (Poppea e Nerone), the Aix-en-Provence Festival (Le Triomphe du temps et de la désillusion, L’Ange ardent), Dutch National Opera (Wozzeck), Grand Théâtre de Genève and Vlaamse Opera (The Makropulos Affair), Salzburg Festival (The Bassarids, Elektra and Aida), Ruhrtriennale (Das Floß der Medusa, Pelléas et Mélisande, Evolution set to a music by Ligeti), Opéra national du Rhin and Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo (Le Pavillon d’or) and Royal Opera House Covent Garden (From the House of the Dead). Felice Ross has been working with Krzysztof Warlikowski for his theatre and opera productions since 1998. In 2018, she was honoured by Sir Paul McCartney with the title of Companion at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. This season, she is designing the lighting for Tannhäuser at Staatsoper Hamburg, Lohengrin and Didon et Énée at Bayerische Staatsoper Munich.

At the Paris Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride (2006, 2008, 2016, 2021) ; L’Affaire Makropoulos (2007, 2009, 2013) ; Parsifal (2008) ; Le Roi Roger (2009) ; Le Château de Barbe-Bleue / La Voix humaine (2015, 2018) ; Don Carlos (2017) ; Don Carlo (2019) ; Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (2019) ; A Quiet Place (2022).

Since 2010, Claude Bardouil has been actively taking part in Krzysztof Warlikowski’s every opera and theatre production, both as choreographer and movement coach. A gymnast and then a dancer, trained at the Conservatoire, the Atelier de formation et de recherche du Centre Dramatique National and the Centre de Développement Chorégraphique in Toulouse, he has worked with several French choreographers, including Rita Cioffi of the Compagnie Aurélia, with whom he has designed and danced several duets (in particular Massacre du printemps, Shopping, Pas de deux and Passengers). As an actor, he has appeared in several productions of Krzysztof Warlikowski, and as a dancer and choreographer, he has created two performances these past years: Nancy Interview with actress Magdalena Popławska and Exhausted, still with Magdalena and other comedian of the Nowy Teatr group. These performances have toured in many Polish cities, as well as in Paris, Toulouse, Liège and Munich.

At the Paris Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride (2006, 2008, 2016, 2021) ; Le Château de Barbe-Bleue / La Voix humaine (2015, 2018) ; Don Carlos (2017) ; Don Carlo (2019) ; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (2019) ; A Quiet Place, (2022).

Born in Lausanne, Christian Longchamp studied Art History and Philosophy in Geneva and then in Paris before working as an exhibition curator. He created, as a Programmer at the Auditorium du Louvre, thematic programmes (cinema, literature, philosophy and theatre). From 2007 to 2013, he was artistic assistant to Peter de Caluwe at La Monnaie in Brussels and held the position of Director of dramaturgy, cultural development and communication. At the Paris Opera, he was an advisor to Stéphane Lissner until September 2014, then Director of dramaturgy, publishing and communication until September 2015. In 2016, he was artistic advisor and dramatist to Eve Kleinitz, the director of the Opéra national du Rhin, where he also led four editions of the multidisciplinary festival ARSMONDO (Japan, Argentina, India and Lebanon). As a dramatist, he has worked with Krzysztof Warlikowski (Médée, Macbeth, Poppea e Nerone, Lulu, Wozzeck, Don Giovanni, Le Château de Barbe Bleue / La Voix humaine, Le Triomphe du temps et de la désillusion, Don Carlos, From the House of the Dead, Lady Macbeth, The Bassarids, Elektra, The Tales of Hoffmann, Dido & Aeneas … Erwartung) and with Romeo Castellucci (Orfeo ed Euridice, Schwanengesang D744, Moses und Aron, Il Primo Omicidio). He also collaborated with Alvis Hermanis (Jenůfa, La Damnation de Faust), Joël Pommerat (Au Monde), Ludovic Lagarde (Le Nozze di Figaro), Thomas Ostermeier (Twelfth Night). Other projects include The Threepenny Opera with Thomas Ostermeier, Macbeth with Krzysztof Warlikowski, Parsifal with Thorleifur Arnarsson, the Ring with Romeo Castellucci and Saint François d’Assise with Adel Abdessemed. He is a contributor to the journal "La Règle du jeu" and this autumn, he will create a digital platform devoted to contemporary European literature.

At the Paris Opera: Moses und Aron, 2015 ; La Damnation de Faust, 2015 ; Le Château de Barbe-Bleue / La Voix humaine, 2015, 2018 ; Don Carlos, 2017 ; Don Carlo, 2019 ; Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, 2019 ; Il Primo Omicidio, 2019

Born in Buenos Aires and of Italo-Argentian nationality, José Luis Basso studied piano and orchestral conducting at the University of his hometown. He was appointed Chorus Master at the Teatro Argentino in La Plata where he spent four years preparing operatic and choral works. In 1987, a grant permitted him to pursue his studies at Temple University in Philadelphia. In 1989, he took up the post of Chorus Master at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. That same year, he conducted the chorus of the Buenos Aires Wagner Association and in 1994, he became assistant to the celebrated Chorus master at La Scala Milan, Romano Gandolfi. He was then appointed Chorus Master at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples where he brought to the Opera Chorus a new dynamism, his conducting of Lohengrin and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony attracting considerable acclaim. In 1996, he joined the Maggio Musicale Fiorentine where he prepared the choir for Parsifal conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Turandot with Zubin Mehta and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for which he received the INA-Assitalia Galileo Prize for young conductors 2000. In April 2001, he accompanied the Orchestra and Chorus to Tokyo for the inauguration of the “Italy in Japan 2001” event. He has made a number of recordings for Decca including Turandot, La Bohème, Tosca and Aroldo. As chorus master, he has been invited to the Shanghai Opera, the Mariinski Theatre in Saint Petersburg and the Lyon Opera for Aïda and Carmina Burana. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award with the Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the soprano Renée Fleming for the album Bel Canto. In the course of the last two decades, he has worked alongside many of the world’s leading conductors: Zubin Mehta, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Antonio Pappano, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlo Maria Giulini, Myung-Whun Chung, Peter Schreier, Bruno Bartoletti, Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos, Semyon Bychkov, Daniel Oren, Valery Gergiev, Stéphane Denève, Jordi Savall, Fabio Luisi, Marc Piollet, Pinchas Steinberg, Michael Boder, Sebastian Weigle, Gerd Albrecht and Josep Pons. From 2004 to 2014 he was Chorus Master and Artistic Consultant at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelone. Since September 2014 he has been Chorus Master of the Paris Opera.

Creatives

Cast

Extras

Libretto

Show more

The characters

The acts

Creatives

Libretto