AT THE MOMENT
L’Uomo Femina, Galuppi, Agnès Jaoui, Le Poème Harmonique
18 and 19 December, Rouen Opera House
More famous than Vivaldi in his day, Baldassare Galuppi, a key figure in Italian Baroque opera, composed flamboyant, virtuoso and sparkling music to accompany a libretto with a stunning storyline. On a dream island, the roles are reversed: women are in charge, lead battles and collect romantic conquests. While this comedy was laughable three centuries ago, it resonates differently today.
La Passagère, Weinberg, Capitole de Toulouse
23, 25, 27 and 29 January 2026
A chance encounter on a cruise ship between an Auschwitz survivor and a former camp guard opens up a world of memories where forgetting and remembering battle it out. Based on an autobiographical account by Polish novelist Zofia Posmysz and at the instigation of Shostakovich, composer Mieczysław Weinberg wrote a major 20th-century opera, imbued with powerful lyricism, between cruel irony and radical tragedy. La Passagère is being performed for the first time in France. The Innsbruck production being staged at the Capitole was named ‘best opera production’ by the Austrian Music Theatre Award 2023.
Tour with Le Poème Harmonique, Armide (concert version), Lully
14 March at the Teatro Real in Madrid 17 March at La Philharmonie de Paris 22 March at the Capitole in Toulouse 27 March at the Opéra Royal de Versailles
A musical tragedy in one prologue and five acts, with a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Torquato Tasso’s La Jérusalem délivrée, premiered at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris in 1686 Le Poème Harmonique tackles Lully & Quinault’s final tragedy, Armide, composed in 1686, just before Lully’s death. This musical tragedy is often considered the masterpiece of their collaboration. Indeed, they wrote no fewer than 12 operas together. Photo: From the diary