Stravinsky's The Nightingale and Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias

From the historic Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, you're invited to an out-of-this-world musical and visual spectacle: a dramatic double feature featuring Sabine Devieilhe, Cyrille Dubois, and more of the biggest stars of the French opera stage!

Stage director Olivier Py, Mathieu Romano and the Ensemble Aedes, and François-Xavier Roth with Les Siècles conjure up a stirring reflection on life and death, appearances and power, through two benchmark 20th-century works: Igor Stravinsky's The Nightingale, a philosophical tale set in an imaginary Chinese court, and Francis Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias), a surrealist opéra-bouffe that recounts the adventures of the feminist Thérèse, who becomes a man to gain access to power and fight for sexual equality. These two works take up complementary themes—death in Stravinsky's opera, procreation and sexuality in Poulenc's—and set designer Pierre-André Weitz underlines the linkage with a unique "front and back" decor that represents two sides of a theater: on one side, the shadowy backstage wing whereThe Nightingale unfolds, and on the other, the brightly lit face of the Zanzibar Theater for Tirésias. The exquisite Sabine Devieilhe headlines both operas alongside a stellar cast, including Cyrille Dubois, Laurent Naouri, and Jean-Sébastien Bou. Rarely heard gems, eye-catching sets, and world-class talent onstage and behind the scenes… An evening not to be missed on medici.tv!

Photo: Le Rossignol - Les Mamelles de Tirésias © Vincent Pontet