Opéra national de Paris has unveiled a 2021/22 season intriguing in its variety, and peppered with Canada’s top talent. Solid Canadian representation on the Parisian stage will, hopefully continue and expand with Alexander Neef at the helm; his move to Paris came in September 2020, after 12 years as General Director of the Canadian Opera Company.
Fall at Opéra national de Paris sees Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, featuring Québec-born baritone Jean-François Lapointe as Thoas, alongside South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo as Orest and American soprano Nicole Chevalier in the title role. The production by Krzysztof Warlikowski runs at the Palais Garnier September 14-October 2, 2021.
Rising Canadian soprano Anna-Sophie Neher makes her Paris Opera debut in Georges Enesco’s Œdipe, running at the Opéra Bastille September 20-October 14, 2021. Neher joins a star-studded cast, including Christopher Maltman in the title role, Sir John Tomlinson as Tirésias, and Brian Mulligan as Créon. The production also marks the Paris Opera debut of director Wajdi Mouawad, whose Abduction from the Seraglio came to the Canadian Opera Company in 2018.
Later in 2021, Canadian production giant Robert Carsen brings his Alcina to the Palais Garnier from November 25-December 20, 2021. The production stars Jeanine de Bique in the title role, and Gaëlle Arquez as Ruggiero, and features choreography by oft-partner Philippe Girardeau.
Carsen returns to the Paris Opera in 2022, alongside Girardeau and fellow Canadian opera favourite Michael Levine, for their shadowy, spectral Elektra. The cast is stellar: Christine Goerke takes on her signature Elektra, opposite Elza Van Den Heever as Chrysothemis, and Waltraud Meier as Klytämnestra. Elektra runs at the Opéra Bastille May 10-June 1, 2022.
Canadian tenor Michael Colvin sings Don Basilio in Le nozze di Figaro, joining Ildebrando D’arcangelo as Figaro and Peter Mattei as the Count Almaviva. Paris Opera’s new Music Director Gustavo Dudamel conducts this new production by Netia Jones, running at the Palais Garnier from January 19-February 18, 2022.
Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti sequel, A Quiet Place, comes to Palais Garnier from March 7-30, 2022. After the 2013 in-concert premiere, A Quiet Place gets its first venture onstage; Kent Nagano conducts the almost-all-Canadian cast, including Frédéric Antoun as François, Gordon Bintner as Junior, and Russell Braun as Sam.
And at the Opéra de Bastille from June 28-July 13, 2022 is Gounod’s Faust, in a production by Tobias Kratzer. Alongside Benjamin Bernheim in the title role, Christian Van Horn as Méphistophélès, and Angel Blue as Marguerite, Canadian mezzo Emily D’Angelo sings the role of Siébel.
Jenna is the editor and co-creator of Schmopera. She also writes for The Globe and Mail and Opera Canada. She’s a pianist and vocal coach, and working with singers is how she fell in love with opera.
