THE ARTS
Cinderella: Opéra de Paris
Charles Perrault’s celebrated tale, set to music by Sergei Prokofiev, is transposed to a film set. In a series of references to the heroes of the American cinema, Rudolf Nureyev propels his Cinderella under the spotlights of Hollywood.

With a producer for fairy godmother and a star actor as Prince Charming, she escapes her miserable destiny and sees her dreams come true in a story not without similarities with that of the choreographer, the young Tartar who became an international star.

With this ‘ballet-metaphor’, the Company pays tribute to its former director Rudolf Nureyev.
Faust: Opéra de Paris
"I want a treasure, which contains them all! I want youth!" Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite…

Reworking the legend which Goethe popularised, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. His decision to lighten the philosophical scope of the narrative allowed him to balance scenes where the supernatural called for something visually spectacular with a parallel microcosm governed by inner actions and feelings.

Gounod’s score is a tour de force of melodic invention whose vocal composition reveals the composer’s skill at conveying sincere and immediate emotion. For his Paris Opera debut, German director Tobias Kratzer reflects on contemporary society’s obsession for eternal youth. With its sophisticated scenography, his production oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, the world of today and the eerie atmosphere of German romanticism.
The Sleeping Beauty
In his rendering of the dreamiest, most sumptuous of ballets, perhaps the ballet par excellence, Nureyev maintained the incredible purity of Petipa’s original choreography, just as he had learned it at the Kirov, but infused it with a fresh sense of theatrical drama and inner strength through remarkable variations and an articulated choreographic composition that reveals all of the characters’ psychological nuances. Indeed, it was to La Scala in 1966 that Nureyev entrusted the debut of ‘his’ Sleeping Beauty, and now, twelve years after its last performance, his masterpiece returns to the stage with the magnificent sets created by Oscar winner Franca Squarciapino and Felix Korobov conducting the extraordinary score by Tchaikovsky.

This beautiful production by La Scala in June 2019 is captured by RAI. A thrilling spectacle, not to be missed. Recorded from live stream. The best seat in town delivered with fantastic sound and crystal clear HD.
Swan Lake: Opéra de Paris
In Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky took up the legend of the immaculate bird to create some of the most beautiful music ever written for ballet. The choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov left their distinguished mark on this story of an impossible love between an earthly prince and a bird-princess, refashioning the myth of the swan- dancer, the ultimate ballerina. When creating his version for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1984, Rudolf Nureyev chose to give it a Freudian dimension, illuminating Tchaikovsky’s poetic dream through a sense of profound hopelessness.
Giacomo Puccini's Tosca
This fantastic new production of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca follows the publication of musicologist Roger Parker’s critical edition for Ricordi. The Music Director Riccardo Chailly presents Puccini’s work in the light of this most recent research, building on the great success of La Scala’s Turandot, La Fanciulla del West, Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut. Giacomo Puccini’s masterpieces have so far been presented in versions that often bear the burden of tradition.

With the return of Director Davide Livermore, already highly acclaimed for Attila, this inaugural version of Tosca will be first and foremost at a music festival. Combined with the stunning stage set design of Giò Forma and the powerful voices of Anna Netrebko and Luca Salsi, this thrilling spectacle is not to be missed.