2025 is the bicentenary of the delivery of the singer, librettist and composer Hervé [Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger (1825-1892)], a person liable for a wide array of opérette and opéra-bouffe which have quite dropped out of the repertoire. Now, Palazzetto Bru Zane has its eye on them.
His opéra-bouffe, Le petit Faust, initially written in 1869 will obtain a brand new manufacturing performed by Sammy El Ghadab and directed by Sol Espeche with performances the Autumn at Opéra de Excursions, Opéra de Reims and in Paris.
The work premiered a mere three months after Gounod’s Faust was lastly carried out (in its Grand Opera model) on the Paris Opéra. On this new model, Marguerite – not as pure and harmless because the Germanic Gretchen – wreaks havoc on the boarding faculty to which she is introduced by her brother Valentin. She seduces Dr Faust, the aged professor who has accepted her as a pupil. Méphisto – a breeches function, taken by a lightweight soprano – rejuvenates Faust, and the lovers find yourself in Hell, doomed to be collectively ceaselessly. Hervé does quote from Gounod, however what impressed critics at time was his inventiveness in parodying the type of the unique and its varied conditions.
To go with this, in Venice, Palazzetto Bru Zane is celebrating Folies parisiennes with a sequence of concert events exploring Hervé’s music alongside Roger, Offenbach, Lecocq, Messager, Boileau, Saint-Saens, Chaminade and lots of extra, from a tune recital from Anaïs Merlin, soprano and Maguelone Parigot, piano to operetta for piano, two fingers to The Accordion in France with Félicien Brut.
As if that weren’t adequate Folies, Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe returns in a brand new manufacturing on the Theatre des Champs-Elysees with Mark Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre, and directed by Laurent Pelly, that includes Lawrence Brownlee, Julie Fuchs and Laurent Naouri. Different performances embrace Offenbach’s La Perichole in Saint-Étienne, Charles Silver’s operatic model of Sleeping Magnificence which first premiered in Marseille in 1902, and can also be revived at Saint-Étienne. And Christian Lacroix’ manufacturing of the unique model of Offenbach’s La Vie parisienne involves Versailles.
Later within the season, Bru Zane turns its consideration to the pianist, writer and composer Louise Farrenc, who died 150 years in the past, with a cycle of concert events in Venice in March 2026. Different novelties embrace a live performance efficiency of Augusta Holmès’ four-act drame lyrique, La Montagne Noire (setting her personal libretto) in Bordeaux.
Full particulars from the Palazzetto Bru Zane web site.
