Concert

Le Nozze di Figaro, by Giorgio Strehler

The legendary production of Giorgio Strehler

Live
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This concert is presented by

Cast

Giorgio Strehler — Stage director

Humbert Camerlo — Stage director

Ezio Frigerio — Set designer, costume designer

Jean Guizerix — Choreographer

Marise Flach — Choreographer

Paris Opera Chorus

Alessandro di Stefano — Chorus master

Paris Opera Orchestra

Philippe Jordan — Conductor

Ludovic Tézier — Baritone (Comte Almaviva)

Barbara Frittoli — Soprano (Comtesse Almaviva)

Ekaterina Siurina — Soprano (Susanna)

Luca Pisaroni — Tenor (Figaro)

Ann Murray — Mezzo-soprano (Marcellina)

Karine Deshayes — Mezzo-soprano (Cherubino)

Program notes

Opera buffa in four acts (1786), Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte after Le Mariage de Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais

Cherubino – cherub – is not a name bestowed at baptism. Mingling the sacred and the secular, it is an intractable contradiction, at once angel, child and Love itself. In paintings by Raphael and Titian, hovering blond cherubs accompany the Virgin on her Assumption. Fragonard cherubs, still hovering, make mischief, hiding behind a swing or laughing at the top of fountains. Apparently invisible to the other characters, they illuminate the canvas with love's smile, reminding us of our fatal need to love, the happiness it brings and its promise of pain.

Inspired by Beaumarchais, Mozart and Da Ponte's masterpiece returns to the Paris Opera in Giorgio Strehler's legendary production, revised and restored by those who attended its birth: Ezio Frigerio, Humbert Camerlo and Maryse Flach. With the finest Mozartians of our day, a great moment in the history of opera lives again at the Opera Bastille.

Photo: © Fred Thoulet/Opéra national de Paris

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