1. Staged Opera
For this Met’s coproduction of Roberto Devereux presented at the TCE, an ideal cast has been selected conducted by Maestro Roberto Abbado. The superb tenor Francesco Demuro excels in the title role, his lyrical elegance matched by youthful ardor and Maria Agresta shows why she is swiftly becoming one of the most sought-after sopranos in the world.
David McVicar presents the opera as a play within a play. He both directed and designed this coproduction. His towering unit set, in severe black and gold, and the Elizabethan costumes have their true grandeur.
Rencontre 1 heure avec... le Mercredi 11 mars à 18h30
Entrée libre sur inscription obligatoire ICI
Only three works remain from Monteverdi's long career in opera. L'Incoronazione di Poppea is the last one, created in Venice in 1642. This opera brings us to the conquest of power by Nero’s mistress, Poppea, who foregoes no crime to reach her ends.
Anne-Catherine Gillet and her crystalline tone that belied the malice behind it, is one among a perfect cast directed by Stephen Langridge and conducted by Christophe Rousset, master of Monterverdi’s music.
Rencontre 1 heure avec... le Mercredi 3 juin à 18h30
Entrée libre sur inscription obligatoire ICI
2. Opera for young public
A joyful moment to share by singing with the artists
Le Piccole Nozze from Mozart’s scintillating class comedy Le Nozze di Figaro is presented in an hour-long French adaptation for young and family audiences. Everything has been thought so that you could sing with an outstanding cast of young and talented artists.
But don’t worry, a vocal workshop is already planed for you all on Sunday May 19.
Let’s sing…
3. Concert version of opera - Oratorio
The final Mozart’s chef d’oeuvre
Mozart's Requiem is a choral masterpiece whose genesis is shrouded in mystery – one that makes the piece all the more fascinating and emotionally stirring. The heart-wrenching beauty of the work will be embodied by soprano Emőke Baráth, a young generation of beautiful singers, the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra.
Mass in C major. A choral masterpiece by Beethoven
Beethoven’s sacred works is, for its time, decidedly a modern piece of church music. The sincerity of expression and potent drama in Beethoven’s music will be perfectly conduct by Thomas Hengelbrock also director of Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble.
A perfect cast has been chosen for this oratorio destined especially for an ensemble of female voices, such as Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Ekaterina Bakanova, Sonia Prina among others.
Part poetic fairy tale, part meditation on family and marriage, Strauss and Hofmannsthal's opera features one of the composer's most ambitious and colorful work. The cast is headed by the magisterial South African soprano Elza van den Heever as the Empress.
This opera is one of Strauss’s mightiest and most demanding scores. It draws on the resources of a huge orchestra, a large choir and a fantastic cast. Musical highlights include a tender, yearning duet, an impassioned solo scene for the Empress, and the opera’s ecstatic finale.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting emphasizes the dark undercurrents of Strauss’s opera by offering clarity and richness, coolness and intensity, intelligence and impetuosity.
Rossini used cheerful rhythms, brilliant operatic solos and tune after irresistibly hummable tune. Conductor Bart Van Reyn will be performing the original version, composed for soloists, - with one of Armenia's rising soprano Hasmik Torosyan -, alto, tenor, bass, chorus and just two pianos and harmonium.
Beethoven loved Fidelio, his only opera, more than anything he ever wrote.
A deeply moving story of love and faith, Fidelio is a tale of personal sacrifice, heroism and human aspirations for justice.
Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra are joined by a world-class cast headed by Nina Stemme one of the reigning Strauss-Wagner sopranos of our day, to retell one of the most inspiring stories ever set to music.
Musical legacy of the grand siècle of Louis XIV
The unconventional world of shepherds and nymphs gave Rameau greater freedom in terms of dramatic action and musical virtuosity. Alexis Kossenko conducts an ideal cast with the French soprano Sabine Devieilhe and her radiant singing.
Roméo et Juliette is a work where the plot serves to inspire a musical interpretation which both lays bare and connects us with our innermost feelings.
This Opera is starring Jean-François Borras and Vannina Santoni – our last season captivating and brilliant Violetta - as Shakespeare’s legendary lovers, and David Reiland in the conductor’s pit.
Caught between the straight-faced drama of an opera seria, and the comic opera buffa style, Xerxes disappeared from the stage after a mere five performances. But, the opening aria, Ombra mai fu, is an operatic favorite thanks to its beautiful plaintive melody as so many others. This opera is worshipped by its admirers and singers such as Emily D’Angelo and Jakub Józef Orliński …
To magnify this splendid composition, Philippe Herreweghe conducts Collegium Vocale Gent – choir and orchestra -, with a beautiful cast – Reinoud Van Mechelen, Florian Boesch, Dorothee Mields, Julian Prégardien, Damien Guillon, Peter Kooij for a deeply moving interpretation
Love me and ask no questions
With Europe spiraling towards a massive war that would eventually devastate the continent, Béla Bartók gave voice to the general sense of anxiety and foreboding by starting work on his only opera in 1911. Bartók’s one-act opera features only two characters, baritone Matthias Goerne is the menacing Bluebeard, and soprano Michelle De Young is his initially unsuspecting new wife.
Not to be missed!
Beethoven composed Missa Solemnis for the enthronement of his great friend and pupil Archduke Rudolph. Beethoven was not a religious man but in his final years he did become deeply spiritual. This work is the most representative of that spirituality: from the heart – may it return to the heart. With four soloists and Vokalacademie Berlin choir, this short opera will be embodied by conductor Jérémie Rhorer.
Handel’s Alessandro is almost a comic opera despite having as its hero Alexander the Great. The plot centers on two women who love him and vie for his affection. He manages to keep them both enchanted until he chooses one at the opera’s close. Bejun Mehta sings the title role with a fine ability to portray Alessandro’s whimsy.
4. Orchestra
The Concert will close with the 7th Symphony, which Beethoven called his “most excellent symphony”.
From the dark into the light: Mahler’s Fifth takes the audience on a journey to the end of the night. Using a sinister funeral march as the starting signal, the symphony quickly lands in more shadowy territory. A tender Adagietto ‘so beautiful that it moves you to tears’ – as Volkskrant described our performance under Yannick Nézet-Séguin – provides a moment of tranquility; the glorious finale heralds a radiant new day.
Symphony No. 1 in C major, op. 21
Beethoven's declaration of independence as a symphonist.
The First Symphony has been called "a fitting farewell to the eighteenth century”. It explores the untapped potential of the Classical style while balancing conservative and innovative elements into a boldly confident statement.
Symphony No. 2 in D major, op. 36
Beethoven’s lesser-known Second Symphony is connected to heroism – not obvious in the music, but inherent in its composer. When Beethoven brought this exuberant symphony to life, he was overwhelmed by depression. The massive slow introduction to the first movement transitions in an instant to an intensely vibrant Allegro, almost aggressively cheerful, as if Beethoven were determined to shake off his dark state of mind through bright, vibrant melodies.
Symphony No. 3
Beethoven’s ground breaking Eroica Symphony n° 3 is as heroic as its title suggests, bigger and longer than anything that had come before, with its deeply moving funeral march and electrifying finale ending in a blaze of glory.
Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, op. 60
Too often overlooked, the Fourth Symphony is frequently overshadowed by Beethoven’s more dynamic Third and Fifth symphonies
Beethoven turned temporarily to a more reserved, classical expression using the orchestra with only a single flute among the woodwinds.
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67
Beethoven’s Fifth thunders into life with four notes that absolutely everyone can recognize. ‘Thus fate knocks at the door!’, Beethoven is said to have declared – but his best-known symphony is on a one-way race to glory.
L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Vienne et Beethoven, entre tradition et évolution
Rencontre avec Dr. Friedemann Pestel (historien Université de Fribourg), Silvia Kargl (archiviste des Wiener Philharmoniker) et Christian Merlin (journaliste et auteur de la biographie Le Philharmonique de Vienne).
Symphony No. 6
A lover of nature, Beethoven often found musical inspiration from his walks in the country. From its opening movement, titled ‘Awakening of cheerful feelings upon arrival in the countryside’, in the Pastoral Symphony n°6 he paints musical scenes of bubbling rivers and village life, carried by evocative strings melodies and colorful woodwind bird calls.
Symphony No. 7
Beethoven judged his Symphony No.7 to be one of his best works - musicians, critics, and thousands of listeners since would agree, and many would even name it as one of the greatest symphonies ever written.
Symphony No. 8 in F Major
It is pure Beethoven in his most individual and characteristic vein, full of those surprises and unexpected effects, those mixtures of tragedy and comedy, not to say farce, which make his music so true a mirror of human life.
Symphony No. 9
N° 9 Holst’s distinctive musical style begins to emerge in this luxuriant early work, with a list of influences that ranges from Wagner to Walt Whitman, and even encompasses Hindu philosophies. It ends with a serenely celestial expression of “Joy! Joy! All over joy!”, echoing Beethoven’s epic Choral Symphony, the powerful and uplifting climax of which is known the world over.
Łukasz Borowicz conducts the Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra since 2006 and this formation continues to gain in reputation outside the borders of Poland. With his compatriot Rafał Blechacz they will perform Chopin’s piano concerto op11 – masterly – as well as pieces by Polish composers such as Roman Palester and Alexandre Tansman.
In 1934, when he was composing his opera Lulu, Alban Berg was flirting with danger, adapting what the Nazis termed a ‘degenerate’ text by Frank Wedekind and composing in a modernist style. His music was later banned and, fearful that his new opera would never be performed, Berg adapted its material as the Lulu Suite, for soprano and orchestra. The fallout from the world premiere of this luxurious, jazz-infused score was immediate for both performers and reviewers alike.
Soprano Rebecca Nelsen joins Esa-Pekka Salonen for this rarely performed Berg masterpiece.
Symphony No. 9 was the last symphony completed by the Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler. Esa-Pekka Salonen knows the complexities of conducting this enigmatic work he likes to conduct. He describes the symphony as a profound statement, a problematic piece which he finds himself interpreting differently each time he comes back to it; ‘frustrating, but endlessly fascinating’.
François-Frédéric Guy is a usual guest of the orchestra with which he has forged a real musical complicity. From his piano, he conducts and performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 K. 414 and last Dumont’s Piano Concerto creation. The concert will end with Mozart’s Haffner Symphony.
Antoine Tamesit playing on a Stradivarius, peforms and conducts a program dedicated to strings in every exciting way. You will hear Bach’s Choral vor Deinen Thron Tret ich hiermit, Hindemith’s Trauermusik, Britten’s Lachrymae op. 48, Brahms Quintet no. 2 op. 111 (for string orchestra) and finally Dowland last creation If My Complaints could Passions Move.
Andrea Marcon has concocted a program dedicated to Mozart and Schubert. The fine Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi is praised for his performances of Mozart’s pieces. He will delight you with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 K. 459, Idomeneo’s opening. Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 D. 485 will complete the evening.
5. Vocal Recital
Not to be missed !
Within a few years Elsa Dreisig was awarded of many prices. Since then, her calendar is packed with great roles -Gretel, Pamina, Violetta Valery, Klingsor’s daughter, Lauretta, Eurydice… - on some of the world's biggest stages.
Tenor Roberto Alagna Surprise Concert
This promising evening is a great opportunity to hear the honeyed voice of this fine international artist.
Emiliano Gonzalez Toro has been interpreting Seicento music, for more than 15 years alongside some of the greatest specialists of this music. His Ensemble I Gemelli originated as a formation with variable geometry or membership, specializing in vocal music of the 17th century.
This Dolce Tormento concert is featuring Philippe Jaroussky, Emöke Baráth and Anthea Pichanick performing Monteverdi, Carissimi, Cavalli, Sances, Frescobaldi and Rossi’s pieces.
TOUS EN CHŒUR !
Le grand concert des chorales lycéennes d’Ile-de-France*
Quand la nouvelle génération donne le LA !
Venez écouter les plus beaux airs du chant choral par les lycéens et lycéennes d’Ile-de-France, réunis à l’initiative de Radio Classique et de l’Orchestre national d’Ile-de-France pour un concert événement. « Tous en Chœur », c’est la transmission d’une passion dans un cadre d’excellence, avec un orchestre symphonique national, la prestigieuse Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris et le soutien d’une marraine d’exception, la soprano Patricia Petibon ! C’est aussi et surtout une soirée d’émotion et de plaisir partagé autour de chefs-d’œuvre des plus grands compositeurs, Mozart, Verdi, Fauré, Beethoven… Une véritable fête de la musique avant l’heure, avec le soutien de la Région Ile-de-France.
Philippe Jaroussky’s singing has been described as divine. His voice can reach jubilantly to incredible height. After successful forays into 19th century France, as well as Bach and Telemann, Jaroussky now returns to his roots together with his Ensemble Artaserse: Vivaldi, Haendel arias, which – with their fine melodic and deep emotionality – seem to have been made for him.
Just back from her performance at the MET in New York, Aleksandra Kurzak stops, for one concert, at the TCE. She dedicates it to the most beautiful opera arias of Verdi, Ponchielli, Massenet and Puccini, her favorite composers.
Prêts pour un festival d’émotions ? Après le succès de ses précédents concerts (Offenbach en fête, Viva Verdi, Sacré Rossini, Passionnément Mozart), Radio Classique vous donne rendez-vous pour une Folle Soirée de l’Opéra qui vous fera vivre toute la richesse des passions humaines, mises en musique par des compositeurs de génie et les artistes les plus talentueux de la scène actuelle.
6. Recital - Chamber Music
Francesco Piemontesi is a pianist of exceptional refinement of expression, which is allied to a consummate technical skill. Of one of his great teachers and mentors, Alfred Brendel, Piemontesi says that Brendel taught him “to love the detail of things”. He dedicates his recital to Schubert and Liszt pieces.
1rst Schubert concert with Elisabeth Leonskaja, the former partner of Sviatoslav Richter accompanied by two great young musicians, interpreting Piano & strings Trios n° 1 &2.
2nd Schubert concert with Elisabeth Leonskaja, the former partner of Sviatoslav Richter accompanied by the Streichquartett der Staatskapelle Berlin and cellist Frans Helmerson. They will perform Piano Quintet D. 667 «Trout» and Piano Quintet for two cellos op. posth. 163 D. 956
A poet at heart and a virtuoso of the highest order, Evgeny Kissin is one of the most magnificent pianists of any generation. He makes each of his Parisian appearances a celebrated event. He dedicates his recital to Beethoven’s Sonatas n° 8,17 and 21.
There is something of the visionary about Adam Laloum. This superficially vulnerable performer is able to coax the hidden secrets from the depths of composers’ works. For this concert, he will perform Schubert’s Sonatas.
Truls Mørk opens the Great Cello WE before passing the baton to a new generation of international cellists and pianists.
The Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk has the benefit of a magnificent instrument, a 1723 Domenico Montagnana, which he makes sing with unforced splendor at each of his recitals. He evolves in an intimate relationship between his cello and the scores. He has recently developed a collaboration with Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov sharing the same intense musical conviction.
What a splendid way to launch this Great Cello WE!
Alexander Kniazev is the worthy successor of Mstislav Rostropovitch and one of Russia's leading contemporary cellists. His brilliant phrasing finds an ideal partner in Andrei Korobeinikov, «a perfectionist of every great class» who « chisels music to the millimeter».
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, one of the brightest young British stars on the classical music scene. In May 2018, he became a household name worldwide after playing at the Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in at Windsor Castle. His performance was greeted with universal excitement after being watched by nearly two billion people globally. Today, he is joined by one of his six siblings, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performing Beethoven, Lutoslawski, Barber and Rachmaninov’s pieces.
Nikolaï Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. He will explore the rich textural romantic tapestry of Beethoven Sonatas and Franck pieces.
A player of dazzling virtuosity and a refined poet, Boris Berezovsky is the truest moving Russian pianist. Acclaimed for his exceptional technique and translucent sound, Berezovsky will no doubt give an exhilarating performance playing, Ravel, Debussy, and Messiaen’s pieces.
Simon Ghraichy is appreciated by peers for his irreproachable virtuosity and remarkable artistic taste, as well as by less experienced listeners for his uninhibited personality and charisma.
This time accompanied by the Saarländisches Staatsorchester, he will perform Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto The Egyptian and Liszt’s Hungarian Fantasy.
For more than 70 years, Pablo Casals Festival has presented its repertoire at The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. For this concert, this is to a Beethoven journey that we are invited - cello & piano Sonata, wind & piano Quartet and trio with piano.
Considered a genius for his unique ability to combine an exceptional virtuosity with a deep and expressive musicality, Arcadi Volodos chooses his repertoire with great care. He designed a program made of Liszt and Schumann pieces.
Hammerklavier Sonata is surely the steepest challenge for any pianist and a pure joy for Fazil Say. About his own composition, Say had endeavored to express all the dramatic features of this magical legend of Troy through the language of music.
During his recitals, he always offers inspired performances. No doubt it will be so for this concert dedicated to Beethoven, Franck and Chopin.
Nemanja Radulovic takes us on a journey through different musical regions. From the Armenia of Khachaturian we travel to Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairy-tale Arabia before reaching the shores of the Black Sea with Aleksandar Sedlar and also to Tchaikovsky repertoire for violin and orchestra.
For this concert, the Franco-Serbian violinist is accompanied by some of his most long-standing musical friends and collaborators.
French pianist David Fray approaches music very seriously. His performances of works by Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven are musically refined and technically elegant, searching out the meditative qualities of the music.
Sunwook Kim's released few years ago Beethoven Sonatas in which he presented an impressive interpretation of Ludwig van Beethoven.
He became a subtle and accomplished Beethoven specialist, by staying close to the original score, yet offering a very personal interpretation. No doubt he will provide the same accomplishment for his recital.
7. Dance
Since 2017, The former Paris Opera Etoile Laurent Hilaire is the new Artistic Director of the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet Company. He happily blends the traditions of the Russian classical ballet school with a search for the advancement of contemporary forms. The program presented at The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées shows how Hilaire has vowed to expand the Ballet repertoire while preserving its rich traditions.
8. Sunday Morning Concerts
Rarely played
His treatment of the trio is pioneering: he does not apply a typical piano trio setting in contrast to the orchestra, but varies his treatment of the solo parts, allowing each instrument to play alone with the orchestra. Acclaimed for its extraordinarily sensitive style, almost telepathic understanding of each other and technical mastery, the Trio Wanderer is one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles. Along in full complicity with Paris Chamber Orchestra, this Sunday Morning Concert will be fascinating.
In 2nd part, the Orchestra will perform Brahms n°1 Symphony.
A genuine musical greatness
When Belcea released the complete Beethoven String Quartets, they wrote these words: What seems to be the predominant impulse driving this music is man’s yearning for freedom, the unquenchable desire to expand his limits and to learn the truth about himself in this process.
Playing with extraordinary strenuousness, The Belceas re-enact the creative torments of the composer performing op. 18 n° 5, op. 59 n° 3 « Razumovsky » and op. 127.
COSMOS Project
Shani Diluka on piano, Sahana Banerjee on sitar, and Prabhu Edouard on tabla - three of the most accomplished musicians in their respective fields.
The Cosmos Project pay tribute to Beethoven by way of contemplating the spiritual relationship between Beethoven and India.
Schubert's four hands
Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov choose together some of Schubert’s piano composing for four hands. Sitting side by side, they will breath together, evolve together, give each other wings to perform some of Schubert’s gems.
PURCELL IN LOVE
Rhythm and passion by the master of English music
Love in all its forms is tragical, comic, light, satirical through Henry Purcell pieces or masks. Often about romantic schemes, these masks are dramatical, light, comic… Purcell reveals a sharp humor to broach the matters of Love.
The young and talented Ensemble Les Surprises seeks to convey its passion for the music of the 17th and 18th centuries through varied and original programs.
A real great team is going to take you to Pinocchio’s Journey. The Brilliant and sensitive Elliot Jenicot will tell his electrifying adventures along with Lætitia Le Saux who wields colors always with joy and the Ensemble Instrumental performing Weill, Mozart, Vivaldi, Chopin and Ravel’s pieces.
Don’t miss this exceptional trio: pianist Michel Dalberto with his dazzling technique, clarinettiste Michel Portal who dedicates himself body and soul to music, and soprano Elena Galitskaya with her superbly agile voice. They will perform Schubert’s powerful breath and Brahms' passionate scores.
OBSESSION
Nemanja Radulovic is an artist who seeks to broaden the boundaries of classical music, he champions the power of music to bring people together with his unique energy and candor. With pianist Laure Favre-Kahn they pay tribute to Beethoven performing its Kreutzer Sonata. And the great actor Michel Vuillermoz will embody Tolstoï short-story Kreutzer Sonata.
A genuine musical greatness
When Belcea released the complete Beethoven String Quartets, they wrote these words: What seems to be the predominant impulse driving this music is man’s yearning for freedom, the unquenchable desire to expand his limits and to learn the truth about himself in this process.
Playing with extraordinary strenuousness, The Belceas re-enact the creative torments of the composer performing op. 18 n° 1, op. 130 and finally Die Grosse Fuge op. 133.
A joyful generation of young artists
The Signum Quartett saxophonists are constantly searching for new ideas and intriguing artistic encounters. Their sheer joy is reflected in their extraordinary programs as in classical quartet formations as today with pianist Lukas Geniušas whose performance style is fully modern and catches the spirit of the age.
He Quartett plays like a string one: the saxophone soprano sounds like the violin, the saxo tenor – the viola, and the baritone - the cello.
A new way to rediscover Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Ginastera and Gershwin pieces
A keyboard visionary
Acclaimed for his ‘brilliant yet clear-minded’ musicianship, Benjamin Grosvenor returns to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, with a morning recital dedicated to Schumann, Janáček and Bellini/Liszt.
+ Special treat for children under 9, free ticket for them.
9. Variété
After the show “Lily Passion”, with which they toured in 1986, Gérard Depardieu extends his musical love story with Barbara. Accompanied on the piano by Gerard Daguerre who was Barbara’s Pianist for more than 15 years, Depardieu pays a sensitive tribute to his Barbara.
Rencontre
Rencontre avec l'équipe artistique de l'opéra de Donizetti Roberto Devereux mis en scène par David McVicar et dirigé par Roberto Abbado et l'Orchestre National de France.
Roberto Devereux, du 20 au 30 mars. Réservez vos places ici
Rencontre avec l'équipe artistique de la nouvelle porduction de l'opéra de Monteverdi Le Couronnement de Poppée mis en scène par Stephen Langridge et dirigé par Christophe Rousset et Les Talens Lyriques.
Le Couronnement de Poppée, du 11 au 20 juin. Réservez vos places ici