Operas, symphonies, recitals and ballets

with numerous talented young musicians from around the world

In keeping with the personality of their programming of operas and symphonies for the past several years, the Opéra National de Bordeaux's 2010/2011 season will feature many talented young musicians, future conductors, soloists, and opera singers destined to be tomorrow's international stars.

The season will open on 24 September with a new production of Carmen (G. Bizet), staged by Laurent Laffargue. This is one of 5 operatic works, which also include an homage to Rolf Libermann with Die Schule der Frauen (based on Molière's L'Ecole des femmes, and first produced in Salzburg in 1957) staged by Eric Génovèse of the Comédie-Française, L’Italiana in Algeri (staged by Joan Font, with the Comediants from Catalonia), Ariane auf Naxos (Kwamé Ryan/conductor, with the young American, Heidi Melton, in the title role), Il Trovatore (welcoming 2 casts with 5 winners of the Placido Domingo prize, as well as Ludovic Tézier), La Belle Hélène (with Marie-Riccarda Wesseling in the title role), finishing with Lully and William Christie, in a revival of the magnificent production of Atys created in 1987 at the Opéra Comique in Paris and performed around the world ever since.

The symphony programme established by Kwamé Ryan will feature several alternative productions to complement traditional "musuemlike" performances. Sixteen concerts by the Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine will be performed or conducted by Henning Kraggerud, Thomas Zehetmair, Gautier Capuçon, Frank Peter Zimmermann, etc. The "Bordeaux Pops" concert, new this season, targets an audience that is normally put off by classical music, and who will be able to enjoy an homage to the film music of John Williams played by the Orchestre National Bordeaux-Aquitaine.
To complement their own recitals, as well as the outstanding recital given by Itzhak Perlman, the Opéra National de Bordeaux welcomes a new festival created in Bordeaux, entitled "L’Esprit du Piano", lasting 5 days, from the 6th to the 10th of October. This will provide an opportunity to hear Aldo Ciccolini (who has not performed in Bordeaux for 50 years!), as well as two of his closest disciples: Alexandre Paley and David Kadouch.

Between performances planned by the Ballet de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux and those of guest companies, dance enthusiasts will be able to applaud the Charles Jude company in Romeo and Juliette, as well as 4 tendances/3 (created by Anthony Egéa with choregraphy by Galili, Preljocaj and Kylian), and Soirée Balanchine.
"Petite mort" – photo: Daisy Komen
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte-Carlo, the Faizal Zeghoudi company, the Cirque Eloize, Jean-Claude Gallotta/Centre Chorégraphique National de Greno-ble (in a ballet paying homage to Serge Gainsbourg), Malandain Ballet Biarritz, and the Montalvo Hervieu company will be among those invited to perform at the Grand-Théâtre, TnBA, Casino Barrière de Bordeaux and Théâtre Olympia in Arcachon. In honour of the centennial of the birth of Alwin Nikolais, homage will also be paid by the Ririe-Woodbury company.

Some 160,000 tickets will be on sale for 158 events, which the Opéra National de Bordeaux hopes will go towards widening their audience (+ 14% in the past two years, with over 5,000 season tickets).

Decorated in sumptuous blue, white and gold – the colours of royalty – the auditorium of the Bordeaux Grand-Théâtre, an 18th-century architectural masterpiece by Victor Louis, is now the stage for the Bordeaux National Opera. In the course of its long history dotted with theatre plays, operas and concerts, the Grand-Théâtre has played host to the most famous of artists.
Today run by Thierry Fouquet, the Bordeaux National Opera mainly puts on lyrical and choreographic performances boasting exceptional artistic range: from Monteverdi to Britten via Mozart and Verdi...

It has a very large permanent team of artists (110 musicians from the Bordeaux National Orchestra conducted by Kwamé Ryan, 38 dancers from the National Ballet directed by Charles Jude, and 37 artists from the Bordeaux National Opera Choir), accompanied each season by guest artists: international conductors (Darell Ang, Pablo Heras-Casado…), prestigious soloists and singers (Nathalie Dessay, Cecilia Bartoli, Renaud Capuçon, Nemanja Radulovic…), and great choreographers (Angelin Preljocaj…).

Each year almost 200,000 spectators come through the doors of the Bordeaux National Opera where, in parallel to the artistic schedule, they can enjoy open days, temporary exhibitions, and guided tours.