A series of high-profile concerts in Paris marked the centenary of the celebrated and distinguished Russian-born cellist, Valentin Berlinsky, founder and cellist of the Borodin String Quartet.

Schubert: Trout Quintet - Mikhail Kopelman, Loïc Rio, Laurent Marfaing, François Kieffer, Grigory Kovalevsky, Elisabeth Leonskaja (Photo © Nathanael Charpentier / © Association La Clé des Portes)

First concert (presented by Clément Rochefort)
JS Bach: Cello Suite No.3 in C major, Schubert: String Quartet in C minor (Quartettsatz’) D.703, Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras, No.5 (first aria), Alexander Raskatov: Ode for St Valentine’s Day for eight violoncellos and a bottle of champagne, Dvořák: Piano Quintet No.2 in A major, Op.81.
Boris Andrianov (cello), Quatuor Van Kuijk, Serafima Liberman (soprano), Ludmila Berlinskaia (piano)
Thursday 16 October: Salle Cortot, Paris

Second concert (presented by Arthur Ancelle and Maria Matalaev)
Beethoven: String Quartet No.1 in F major, Op.18, Shostakovich: Piano Trio No.2 in E minor, Op.67, String Quartet No.9 in E flat major, Op.117, Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op.11
Quatuor Danel, Kazakh State String Quartet, Mikhail Kopelman (violin), Boris Andrianov (cello), Ludmila Berlinskaia (piano)
Friday 17 October: Salle Cortot, Paris

Third concert (presented by Maria Matalaev and Arthur Ancelle)
Haydn: String Quartet No.29 in G major, Op.33, Brahms: Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op.114, Gaziza Zhubanova: String Quartet No.1, Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op.34
Kazakh State String Quartet, Anastasia Ushakova (cello), Nicolas Baldeyrou (clarinet), Ludmila Berlinskaia (piano).
Saturday 18 October: Salle Cortot, Paris

Fourth concert (presented by Clément Rochefort and Maria Matalaev)
Schubert: Piano Quintet in A major, D.667 (The Trout), Rodion Shchedrin: Diptych for Violin Solo; Glinka: Grand Sextet for Piano and Strings in E flat major - Gran Sestetto originale
Mikhail Kopelman, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Loïc Rio (violins), Laurent Marfaing (viola), François Kieffer (cello), Grigory Kovalevsky (double-bass), Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Ludmila Berlinskaia (piano)
Sunday 19 October: Salle Cortot, Paris

Reviewed by Tony Cooper

An initiative of Valentin Berlinsky’s daughter, Ludmila Berlinskaia, together with her French-born husband, Arthur Ancelle, a couple of prominent international pianists based in Paris, they curated a brilliant and fitting programme in which to honour the memory of Valentin Berlinsky (known to many as ‘Mr Berlinsky’) in the year of his centenary.

Valentin Berlinsky in concert with his daughter Ludmila Berlinskaia

One hundred years after his birth, the musical world rightly celebrates the centenary of Valentin Berlinsky (1925-2008), an exceptional and gifted cellist, influential pedagogue, founded the Moscow Conservatoire Quartet whilst a student there in 1944. A decade later it was renamed the Borodin String Quartet in honour of Alexander Borodin, one of the founders of Russian chamber music. 

The Borodin Quartet’s cohesion and vision has survived many personnel changes over the years mainly due to the common ground shared by its players from their training at the Moscow Conservatoire while their style is characterised by an almost symphonic volume and a highly developed ability of phrasing thereby creating a unified, connected and consistent sound of tonal beauty and technical excellence largely due to the efforts, wisdom and stewardship, I feel, of Valentin Berlinsky, their cellist for six glorious, adventurous and thrilling decades. 

His father, a violinist and pupil of Leopold Auer, was his first teacher: Berlinsky began on the violin before turning to the cello, a transition that came to him with remarkable ease and natural affinity. He then entered the Central Music School in Moscow, studying with E. M. Gendli and went on to the Moscow Conservatoire, from which he graduated in 1947 after studying with S. M. Kozolupov. 

Alongside his performing career, Berlinsky taught chamber music first at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Institute (from 1947) and later at the Gnessin School of Music (from 1970) where he trained several generations of musicians and ensembles. He also founded major institutions such as the Dmitri Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition (1987-2004) and the Sakharov Festival in Nizhny Novgorod, a pioneering event combining classical music and human-rights advocacy. He contributed as well to the creation of ProQuartet in France alongside Georges Zeisel.

Becoming one of the Soviet Union's best-known and revered ensembles in the West during the Communist era (they performed at the funerals of both Stalin and Prokofiev who died on the same day - 5 March 1953) through multiple recordings as well as concert performances in the USA and continental Europe, members of the Borodin Quartet enjoyed a close and flourishing relationship with Shostakovich who personally consulted them on each of his 15 string quartets which they recorded as well as all of Beethoven’s quartets thus becoming widely known throughout the world for the quality and interpretations of both composers’ quartets.  

Borodin Quartet with Sviatoslav Richter & Grigory Kovalevsky

A near-perfect triptych: at Opéra Bastille, Paris, Christof Loy conjures atmosphere inspired by film for Puccini's Il Trittico conducted by Carlo Rizzi

Puccini: Gianni Schicchi - Opéra Bastille (Photo: Guergana Damianova/OnP)

Puccini: Il Trittico; Asmik Grigorian, Alexey Neklyudov, Misha Kiria, Enkelejda Shkoza, Joshua Guerrero, Roman Burdenko, Karita Mattila, director Christof Loy, conductor Carlo Rizzi; Opéra Bastille, Paris
Reviewed by Andreas Rey, 29 April 2025

An excellent evening. A near-perfect triptych. Our Paris correspondent enjoys Puccini's trilogy directed by Christof Loy with Asmik Grigorian in three soprano roles

From April 29 to May 28, the Opéra Bastille presents a new production of Puccini's Il Trittico (Triptych), directed by Christof Loy and conducted by Carlo Rizzi. This was a co-production with the Salzburg Festival where the production debuted in 2022 with substantially the same case [see review on Bachtrack]. Three operas of different natures, all juxtaposed to demonstrate the breadth of the Italian composer's genius. Contrary to Puccini's own instructions, the German director begins the work with the opera buffa Gianni Schicchi, continues with the verist opera Il Tabarro and finishes with the Puccinian opera Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), allowing star Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian to build up the dramatic intensity before ending with a climactic finale.

We must begin by saluting the excellent work of the director's team, namely set designer Étienne Pluss, costume designer Barbara Drosihn, lighting designer Fabrice Kebour and dramaturg Yvonne Gebauer, who give each opera a different atmosphere, inspired by a film genre.

Puccini: Il Tabarro - Opéra Bastille (Photo: Guergana Damianova/OnP)

To capture the atmosphere of the opera buffa, the German director drew inspiration from the Italian comedy films of the 1960s and 1970s. 

This production, will undoubtedly be remembered for years to come: Massenet's Werther in Paris with Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim & Marc Leroy-Calatayud conducting Les Siècles

Massenet: Werther - Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim - Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Photo: Vincent Pontet)

Massenet: Werther; Marina Viotti, Benjamin Bernheim, Sandra Hamaoui, Jean-Sébastien, director: Christof Loy/Silvia Aurea De Stefano, Les Siècles, conductor: Marc Leroy-Calatayud; Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris
Reviewed by Andreas Rey

From Paris, our correspondent Andreas Rey feels that it is a long time since Massenet's Werther has been staged to such a high standard in the city.

From March 22 to April 6, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées presented a new production of Jules Massenet's Werther, directed by Christof Loy and revival director Silvia Aurea De Stefano (a co-production with Teatro alla Scala), with Marina Viotti as Charlotte and Benjamin Bernheim as Werther [Robert saw Bernheim in the role in Zurich in 2024, see review], and Marc Leroy-Calatayud conducting Les Siècles.

It's probably no exaggeration to consider it one of the best of the first quarter of 2025, at least. In fact, it's been a long time since a Werther has been staged to such a high standard in Paris. The few comments that follow should not distract readers. First of all, we must salute the German director's fine work, in terms of set design, costumes and acting.

Massenet: Werther - Act 1 - Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Photo: Vincent Pontet)

Peter Grimes in Paris: a powerful performance from Allan Clayton as he leads the Paris revival of Deborah Warner's striking production

Britten: Peter Grimes - Simon Keenlyside, Allan Clayton - Paris Opera (Photo Vincent Pontet/OnP)

Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes; Allan Clayton, Maria Bengtsson, Simon Keenlyside, director: Deborah Warner, conductor: Alexander Soddy; Paris Opera at Palais Garnier
Reviewed 29 January 2023

A profoundly beautiful and thoughtful account of the title role allied to Warner's remarkably rethought and disturbing contemporary production make for a Peter Grimes that is outstanding in all ways

We missed the new production of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes at Covent Garden last year owing to illness, but as the production is shared between Madrid, London, Paris and Rome, we were able to treat ourselves to a January trip to Paris to see it. Deborah Warner's production of Peter Grimes opened at the Palais Garnier on 26 January 2023, conducted by Alexander Soddy and we caught the second performance on 29 January 2023.

The cast was virtually unaltered from London, with Allan Clayton as Peter Grimes, Maria Bengtsson as Ellen Orford, Simon Keenlyside as Bulstrode, John Graham Hall as Bob Bowles, Jacques Imbrailo as Ned Keene, Catherine Wyn-Rogers as Auntie, Rose Aldridge as Mrs Sedley, Stephen Richardson as Hobson, John Gilchrist as Revd Horace Adams, Clive Bayley as Swallow and Anna-Sophie Neher and Ilanah Lobel-Torres as the nieces.

Britten: Peter Grimes - Paris Opera (Photo Vincent Pontet/OnP)

Daniel Barenboim brought his odyssey of the complete Beethoven sonatas - which he commenced upon in January 2019 at the Philharmonie de Paris - to a majestic and exciting close with a couple of recitals over a three-day period

Daniel Barenboim (Photo Ava du Parc)

Beethoven piano sonatas; Daniel Barenboim; Philharmonie de Paris
Reviewed by Tony Cooper on 19 January 2020 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
Daniel Barenboim offered a real treat for aficionados of Beethoven especially in the year in which Paris and the world over is celebrating the 250th anniversary of this great composer’s birth

Twenty-four hours after witnessing the dynamic French-born pianist, François-Frédéric Guy, stunning a full house at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées performing Beethoven’s complete piano concerti with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris [see Tony's review], I ventured over to the 2,400 seater Philharmonie de Paris (which opened in a blaze of glory in 2015) to hear another great master of the keyboard and interpreter of Beethoven, Daniel Barenboim, perform the penultimate recital (19 January 2020) of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas which he commenced upon last year.

The programme comprised No.15 in D major, Op.28; No.3 in C major, Op.2; No.24 in F sharp minor, Op.78; No.30 in E major, Op.109, whilst in his final recital (Tuesday, 21st) which, unfortunately, I couldn’t make, he played No.9 in E major, Op.14, No.1; No.4 in E flat major, Op.7; No.22 in F major, Op.54; No.32 in F minor, Op.111.

It’s most certainly a noteworthy achievement playing all of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas (written between 1795 and 1822) in a single cycle. However, the first person to undertake such a marathon task fell to the Dresden-born conductor and virtuosic pianist, Hans von Bülow. He described them as ‘The New Testament’ of piano literature whilst referring to Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier as ‘The Old Testament’.

Daniel Barenboim, however, is no stranger to the Beethoven cycle and, indeed, no stranger to Wagner’s Ring cycle either which he has conducted on numerous occasions, the latest being Guy Cassiers [see Tony's review] which has just ended its time at the Staatsoper Berlin where Barenboim has been general music director since 1992. However, he has recorded Beethoven’s 32 sonatas for EMI Classics and from a performance point of view has performed it many times in such noted musical capitals of the world as London, Berlin, New York, Prague and Vienna as well as in Buenos Aires where he was born in 1942.

The early sonatas were highly influenced by those of Haydn and Mozart and overall they make up one of the most important collections of works in the history of music. They came to be seen as the first cycle of major piano pieces not only suited for concert-hall performance but also for both private and public performance while forming a bridge between the world of the salon and that of the concert-hall.

After he wrote his first 15 sonatas, Beethoven wrote to his bosom friend, the Czech-born mandolin/violin player, Wenzel Krumpholz, saying: ‘From now on, I’m going to take a new path.’ And Beethoven did just that and, therefore, his sonatas from this period proved totally different from his earlier ones and his experimentation in modifications to the common sonata form of Haydn and Mozart became more daring as did the depth of expression.

Interestingly, most Romantic period sonatas were highly influenced by those of Beethoven whose late sonatas were some of his most difficult pieces and still prove difficult today but in the capable and assured hands of Daniel Barenboim he made short work of them. He’s a master of the keyboard per se.

An innovative and ground-breaking composer in more ways than one, Beethoven discovered a new path to explore in his compositions incorporating, say, fugal techniques while making a radical departure from the conventional sonata form. For example, the Hammerklavier, a work deemed to be Beethoven’s most difficult sonata, was considered unplayable until almost 15 years after its composition when Franz Liszt, a 19th-century pianist of great standing, got to grips with it. And, of course, Daniel Barenboim’s a pianist of great standing today and, from my point of view, he’s also a brilliant conductor, artistic director, mentor, humanist and free-thinker.

Attending a Barenboim recital is a truly special event and coupled with François-Frédéric Guy’s performance - a pianist so different in style and temperament to that of Barenboim - and, indeed, the performance I attended at Norwich’s Assembly House of the Brodsky Quartet playing Beethoven’s 127 quartet - completed in 1825 and the first of the composer’s late quartets - prior to my departure to Paris, it’s been a great start for me apropos the celebrations this year marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. There’s Bonn and Vienna still to come! Cor’ blimey, Mary Poppins!

François-Frédéric Guy’s Beethoven piano concerti marathon proved an extraordinary event offering a delighted and informative audience a demonstration of technical prowess at the keyboard

Francois-Frederic Guy (Photo Caroline Doutre)

Beethoven complete Piano Concertos; François-Frédéric Guy, Orchestre de chambre de Paris; Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris
Reviewed by Tony Cooper on 18 January 2020 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
In this extraordinary concert, François-Frédéric Guy performed all of Beethoven’s five piano concerti in one evening to a packed and excited house in the stylised art deco Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth

I first became aware of Parisian-based pianist, François-Frédéric Guy, when he joined the BBC New Generation Artists’ Scheme in 1999 but I immediately got hooked on him after he made his first visit to my home city of Norwich in 2011. Under the auspices of the Norfolk & Norwich Music Club, he performed the complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas over a nine-day period.

He quickly returned to Norwich later the same year at short notice to replace an indisposed Radu Lupu and played Debussy’s Preludes, Liszt’s Benediction and Schubert’s penultimate Piano Sonata, D 959. Four years later, he was back in the city - once more at the invitation of the Norfolk & Norwich Music Club - offering a weekend of music for two pianos working alongside his fellow countryman, Geoffrey Couteau, an exceptional and gifted performer.

They played works by Brahms and Mozart but most memorable of all they concluded their weekend with a salutary performance of Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen, a work that Roger Rowe - former programme director of the Music Club - says that no one who was there will ever forget! 'The 2011-12 season, in fact, turned out to be a vintage one for the Music Club,' enthused Roger, who's now series producer of Norwich Assembly House classical lunchtime concerts. 'During that season we also enjoyed visits from Paul Lewis and the Belcea and Jerusalem string quartets.'

Over the years, therefore, François-Frédéric Guy has grown upon me especially in relation to his interpretation and playing of Beethoven. Therefore, I felt it a great privilege to travel to Paris to hear him on home ground performing his Beethoven marathon of the five piano concerti in one evening. And what an evening it turned out to be. Unforgettable, that’s for sure!

So, on 18 January 2020 at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, François-Frédéric Guy was accompanied by the Orchestre de chambre de Paris in all of Beethoven's Piano Concertos, directing them from the keyboard.

But you can always expect the best from Monsieur Guy and without a shadow of doubt he gave of his best delivering Beethoven in no uncertain terms performing magnificently while conducting the 42-piece Orchestre de chambre de Paris (so confidently led by Deborah Nemtanu) from the keyboard positioned on stage with his back towards the audience thus connecting so intimately with his players whilst offering audience members the chance to witness him at work as (probably) never before.

Berlioz’s ‘La damnation de Faust’ at the Philharmonie de Paris turned out to be a flaming affair unlike its first Parisian performance in December 1846 that turned out to be a bit of a damp squib

Berlioz by August Prinzhofer, 1845, the year before
the premiere of La damnation de Faust

Berlioz La damnation de Faust; Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Renaud Delaigue, Karine Deshayes, Paul Groves, Orchestre de Paris, Chœur de l’Orchestre de Paris, dir: Lionel Sow, Chœur d’enfants de l’Orchestre de Paris, cond. Tugan Sokhiev; Grande salle Pierre Boulez, Philharmonie de Paris
Reviewed by Tony Cooper on 15 January 2020 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)
The subject of Faust is often referred to as one of the two quintessential myths of western culture, the other being Don Giovanni. The tragic story of this doomed character became an obsession for many of the greatest composers of the 19th century and Berlioz is up there with the best

I’m in league with the devil, it seems! Old Beelzebub has stalked me a few times over the past year. I travelled to Nice for a well-staged production of Gounod’s Faust [see Tony's review] mystically and darkly directed by Nadine Duffaut for Opéra de Nice but, closer to home, I attended a semi-staged performance of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress [see Tony's review] at the Aldeburgh Festival featuring a young and enthusiastic cast recruited from Barbara Hannigan’s Equilibrium Young Artists’ Programme.

But, like a good ’un, he kept his fangs deep into me and tracked me down on the East Sussex Downs where I witnessed an excellent and innovative staged production of Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust at Glyndebourne [see Tony's review] directed by Richard Jones marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.

And, now, with the New Year - and fresh new souls to prey on - he’s up to his old tricks again and nabbed me in Paris where, sitting comfortably in my seat in the grand surroundings of the Grande salle Pierre Boulez of the Philharmonie de Paris. At the Philharmonie on 15 January 2020, I attended a marvellous concert performance of Berlioz’ La damnation de Faust under the baton of Russian-born conductor, Tugan Sokhiev, with the Orchestre de Paris and soloists Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Renaud Delaigue, Karine Deshayes, and Paul Groves.

Spectacular and distracting: Weber's Der Freischütz in Paris from Insula orchestra and Cie 14:20

Weber: Der Freischütz - Theatre de Champs Elysees - Photo Julien Benhamou

Carl Maria von Weber Der Freischütz; Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Johanni van Oostrum, Chiara Skerath, Vladimir Baykov, Cie 14:20, Insula orchestra, Laurence Equilbey; Theatre de Champs Elysees, Paris
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 20 October 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
La magie nouvelle fails to say anything new dramatically, in a musically strong account of Weber's masterpiece

I think that the last time I saw a full staging of Weber's masterpiece Der Freischütz was in 1989, with the final revival of Covent Garden's 1977 production originally directed by Götz Friedrich. Since then the opera has been a relative rarity in London, John Eliot Gardiner conducted a semi-staging of Berlioz' arrangement of the work at the Proms, Sir Colin Davis (who conducted both the 1982 and the 1989 revivals of the Covent Garden production) conducted it at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra, and David Roblou and Midsummer Opera have performed it. I am not sure whether it has received a fully professional staging in the UK since that 1989 Covent Garden version.

In concert, companies tend to replace the spoken dialogue with narration. And that perhaps provides the hint for the work being relatively ignored in the UK. Carl Maria von Weber and Friedrich Kind's Der Freischütz, which premiered in Berlin in 1821, is a singspiel in the tradition of those by Mozart. It is not a comic piece, and examines themes which were common in German Romanticism of the 1820s, folk traditions, the supernatural, the Gothic and the gruesome. Themes that would be mined and transformed by Richard Wagner in his operas.

So it was something of a surprise to find a new production of Weber's Der Freischütz at Paris' Theatre des Champs Elysees, as a collaboration between two French organisations, conductor Laurence Equilbey's Insula orchestra and the theatre company Compagnie 14:20. The cast featured Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Max [last seen in Ivo van Hove's new Don Giovanni at the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier in July 2019, see my review], Johanni van Oostrum as Agathe, Chiara Skerath as Ännchen [see my interview with Chiara], and Vladimir Baykov as Kaspar. The choir was Accentus. From the Compagnie 14:20, Raphael Navarro and Clément Debailleul were responsible for direction and for the magic conception, and Valentine Losseau for the dramaturgy. Debailleul also designed the set and was responsible for the videos. The choreography was by Siegrid Petit-Imbert. It was a co-production with Theatre de Caen (where it has already appeared), Theatre des Champs Elysees Les Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg, opera de Rouen Normandie and Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele.

Richard Wagner's influence on German music has meant that we have tended to see Weber's operas through the lens of Wagner's. In the role of Max, I have seen great Wagnerians Rene Kollo and Alberto Remedios, and in the role of Agathe, Christine Brewer. Using period instruments has meant that Laurence Equilbey and Insula provided lighter, more transparent sound, yet still vibrant and characterful, and this enabled the casting of lyric voices. Stanislas de Barbeyrac, who sang Max in Paris, is a notable Tamino.

Weber: Der Freischütz - Theatre de Champs Elysees - Photo Julien Benhamou

The version used was credited to the dramaturgy of Valentine Losseau of Compagnie 14:20, and I have no doubt that the dialogue was edited, but at least there was dialogue and it was important to the drama. The delivery was highly creditable, and was a notable plus for this international cast (a French Max, a South African Agathe, A Swiss-Belgian Ännchen, a Russian Kasper). So musically and textually this was an evening of high quality and fidelity to Weber and Kind's intentions.

Visually and dramaturgically, the evening owed everything to the ethos of Compaganie 14:20. Consisting of Clemen Debauilleu, Raphael Navarro and Valentine Losseau the company specialises in magie nouvelle - the new magic [see the interview with the three in Circus News]. A movement which places the disequilibrium of the senses on the overturning of reality at the centre of its artistic endeavours.

Tautly dramatic: Ivo van Hove's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier

 Mozart: Don Giovanni - Etienne Dupuis, Philippe Sly - Paris Opera (Photo Charles Duprat / OnP)

Mozart Don Giovanni; Jacquelyn Wagner, Nicole Car, Etienne Dupuis, Philippe Sly, Elsa Dreisig, Mikhail Timoshenko, Stanislas de Barbeyrag, Ain Anger, dir: Ivo van Hove, cond: Philippe Jordan; Paris Opera
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 11 July 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A stylish contemporary take, which stays true to Mozart and Da Ponte's drama and provides some tautly dramatic moments

What happens when you bring a contemporary Belgian theatre director, known for challenging audiences, together with Mozart's Don Giovanni?

 Mozart: Don Giovanni - Etienne Dupuis, - Paris Opera
(Photo Charles Duprat / OnP)

 
Ivo van Hove's Avignon festival production of Les Damnés (The Damned) for the Comédie-Française (which was recently seen to some acclaim in London) featured male and female nudity and implied paedophilia. Mozart's operatic masterpiece would seem to offer great scope, then for a free reign of the imagination.
 
In fact, Ivo van Hove's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier (seen 10 July 2019) proved to be a thoughtful and tightly plotted production which stayed close to Mozart and Da Ponte without being over reverent. Designs were by Jan Versweyveld with costumes by An D'Huys, choreography by Isabelle Horovitz and video by Christopher Ash. Philippe Jordan conducted with Etienne Dupuis as Don Giovanni, Ain Anger as the Commendatore, Jacquelyn Wagner as Donna Anna, Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Don Ottavio, Nicole Car as Donna Elvira, Philippe Sly as Leporello, Mikhail Timoshenko as Masetto and Elsa Dreisig as Zerlina.

Versweyveld's stylish grey set echoed Escher, Piranesi and those designs of ideal Renaissance cities, but here one re-made in 1970s cast concrete, the result was to evoke the great Italian architect Carlo Scarpa. Within this, D'Huys' costumes were roughly contemporary, with clear delineation of hierarchy and class, that this opera opera needs. Jan Versweyveld's lighting was highly effective, often from within the rooms of the set. With the gloom and faces in shadow for the opening scene making credible Donna Anna's claim that she did not see the face of her attacker.

 Mozart: Don Giovanni - Elena Dresig, Mikhail Timoshenko, Nicole Car, Philippe Sly, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Jacquelyn Wagner - Paris Opera (Photo Charles Duprat / OnP)

Ivo van Hove had clearly read the libretto and listened to Mozart's music.

La forza del destino: Verdi's sprawling masterpiece in a highly picturesque production at the Paris Opera

Verdi: La forza del destino - Opera National de Paris (Photo Julien Benhamou / OnP)

Verdi La forza del destino; Elena Stikhina, Brian Jagde, Zeljko Lucic, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Rafal Siwek, Gabriele Viviani, dir: Jean-Claude Auvray/Stephen Taylor, cond: Nicola Luisotti; Opera National de Paris
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 9 July 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A finely balanced cast brings strong musical values to this revival of Jean-Claude Auvray's handsome 2011 production

Verdi: La forza del destino - Brian Jagde, Elena Stikhina
Opera National de Paris (Photo Julien Benhamou / OnP)

Jean-Claude Auvray's 2011 production of Verdi's La forza del destino was revived at Paris' Opera Bastille (revival director Stephen Taylor) for ten performances of which we caught the last (9 July 2019). Nicola Luisotti conducted with Elena Stikhina as Leonora, Brian Jagde as Don Alvaro, Zeljko Lucic as Don Carlo, Varduhi Abrahamyan as Preziosilla, Rafal Siwek as Padre Guardiano and Gabriele Viviani as Fra Melitone.

Auvray set the opera in the 19th century, identifying the battles with those of the Risorgimento. Despite some interesting ideas in Auvray's programme note, the attractively traditional production (sets Alain Chambon, costumes Maria Chiara Donato) rarely went beyond the simply pictorial. Auvray seemed to have a fascination with painted backdrops which were allowed to drop at the end of scenes, perhaps evoking the production's use of flags. The set was often quite plain, with Auvray and Chambon placing single items such as a huge crucifix to striking effect.

Auvray seemed uninterested in Don Alvaro's otherness, his programme note insisting it as Don Avaro's religion not his race which the marquis objected to.

Les Huguenots returns to the Paris Opera

Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (end of Act 3) - Lisette Oropesa, Paul Guy, Ermonela Jaho, Florian Sempey, Karine Deshayes
L’Opéra national de Paris (Photo Agathe Poupeney/OnP)

Meyerbeer Les Huguenots; Lisette Oropesa, Ermonela Jaho, Yosep Kang, Florian Sempey, Paul Guy, Karine Deshayes, dir: Andreas Kriegenburg, cond: Michele Mariotti; Paris Opera
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 7 October 2018
Meyerbeer's grand opera returns to Paris in the first new production since the 1930s

Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots (end of Act 4) - Ermonela Jaho, Yosep Kang
L’Opéra national de Paris (Photo Agathe Poupeney/OnP)

The Paris Opera is 350, so a little historical celebration is inevitable. Last year, a new production of Verdi's Don Carlos in the original 1867 version written for the Paris Opera, and next year, the greatest opera it never premiered (and ought to have), Berlioz Les Troyens.

This month (October 2018), there was a new production of the opera which effectively defined the Paris Opera in the 19th century, Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. Between 1836 and 1936 the company gave over 1100 performances of the opera, then nothing. Until now.

Some of the silence is understandable (if not forgivable). Meyerbeer was Jewish and so clearly his music would not fit with the politics of the late 1930s, and then his style fell out of favour in the 1950s. But his operas have been steadily growing in interest again, partly thanks to some remarkable performances by smaller opera companies.

We saw the performance of Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots at the Opera Bastille on Sunday 7 October 2018. Conducted by Michele Mariotti, the production by Andreas Kriegenburg, with sets by Harald B. Thor, costumes by Tanja Hofmann and lighting by Andreas Gruter, featured Lisette Oropesa (replacing Diana Damrau) as Marguerite de Valois, Yosep Kang  (replacing Bryan Hymel) as Raoul de Nangis, Ermonela Jaho as Valentine, Nicolas Teste as Marcel, Karine Deshayes as Urbain, Florian Sempey as le Comte de Nevers and Paul Gay as le Comte de Saint-Bris.

Meyerbeer: Les Huguenots Act 1 - Nicolas Teste
L’Opéra national de Paris (Photo Agathe Poupeney/OnP)

The version used was expansive, no ballet but still three hours 50 minutes of music, five hours in the theatre, and the characters take time to reveal themselves (we do not hear properly from the heroine, Valentine, until the third act). But librettist Eugene Scribe was a master and each of the first four acts ends with a cliff-hanger, and you could see where Verdi and his librettists got the structure for Don Carlos from.

Meyerbeer was Jewish (he never converted, and to the end of his life he still counted in Hebrew), in a society that was innately anti-Semitic. In his two finest operas, Les Huguenots and Le Prophete, he used historical religious intolerance to hold a mirror up to society, and one of the reasons why the operas have retained their toe-hold in the repertoire is that they still hold the same mirror up to modern society.

Les Huguenots uses the French religious wars of the 16th century as its background, with the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre as its climax. When Les Huguenots was produced at Le Monnaie in Brussels in 2011 by Olivier Py, the production was quite dark, and it is this historical background which is important in the opera. Against it, Meyerbeer places the emotional and moral dilemmas of the protagonists.

Andreas Kriegenburg's production in Paris used the confection of setting it in the future, but Tanja Hofmann's costumes were effectively 19th-century style outfits, plus ruffs, for the aristocrats and vaguely Medieval for with contemporary details for the peasants. Against Harald B. Thor's brilliant white sets, these costumes gave the piece a modish cross-period look with a strong 1970s retro look. Thor's multi-level set worked well, but the bright white soon palled. Satisfactory as a back-drop for the lighter first two acts, with Andreas Gruter's candy-coloured lighting, you really wanted (but didn't get) something darker for the final three acts.