Opera

Rossini's Le Comte Ory

Laurent Pelly (stage director), Stefano Montanari (conductor) — With Dmitry Korchak (Le Comte Ory), Désirée Rancatore (La Comtesse Adèle)...

Live
Certain chapters are not available.
Thank you for your understanding.
Subscribers

Cast

Laurent Pelly — Stage director, stage sets and costumes

Joël Adam — Lighting

Dmitry Korchak — Le Comte Ory

Désirée Rancatore — La Comtesse Adèle

Antoinette Dennefeld — Isolier

Doris Lamprecht — Dame Ragonde

Jean-Sébastien Bou — Raimbaud

Patrick Bolleire — Le Gouverneur

Vanessa Le Charlès — Alice

Didier Roussel — Gérard

Yannick Berne — Mainfroy

Dominique Beneforti — Un paysan

Chœur de l’Opéra national de Lyon

Alan Woodbridge — Chorus director

Orchestre de l'Opéra national de lyon

Program notes

Stage Director Laurent Pelly returns to Lyon for a new production of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory that transforms an exotic hermit from Palestine into an Indian guru, and a young medieval countess into an uptight bourgeoise. Music Director Stefano Montanari leads the Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon in Rossini's rollicking score, while Dmitry Korchak (Le Comte Ory), Désirée Rancatore (La Comtesse Adèle), and Antoinette Dennefeld (Isolier) invite hilarity at every turn as the bumbling triangle of lovers.

The 1828 Le Comte Ory, Rossini’s ribald penultimate opera, is a mixture of comedy, tragedy, and absurdity. The composer refashions music written for Charles X’s coronation to set Eugène Scribe’s hilarious medieval farce which draws inspiration from a centuries-old ballad. The original ballad speaks of a certain Comte Ory, a “fearsome” lord, who prefers romantic conquest to military campaigns. The operatic re-interpretation narrates events that take place in a small town while the Lord de Formoutiers is away on crusade in Palestine. In his absence, the young Count Ory leads his own crusade on the home front, trying to seduce de Fourmoutiers’s sister, the Countess Adèle. Determined and imaginative (to say the least), Count Ory’s embarks on a series of disguises and hilarious antics that make for endlessly entertaining comic opera set to some of Rossini’s very best music.

Photo: © Bertrand Stofleth

A closer look: featured composers

More info