Available on 12.07.2025 at 22h45
Saturday 12 July 2025 test

LOUISE BY CHARPENTIER

CONDUCTOR GIACOMO SAGRIPANTI — STAGE DIRECTOR CHRISTOF LOY
  • Recording Date 11 juillet 2025
  • Languages Sung in French with French subtitles
  • Realisation Jérémie Cuvillier
  • Co-production ARTE France, Bel Air Media
  • Video available for replay until Tuesday 30 June 2026

BROADCASTED ON

ROMAN MUSICAL IN FOUR ACTS AND FIVE SCENES TO AN ORIGINAL LIBRETTO BY THE COMPOSER
FIRST PERFORMED ON 2 FEBRUARY 1900 AT THE THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE (SALLE FAVART III), PARIS

NEW PRODUCTION OF THE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
A COPRODUCTION WITH OPÉRA NATIONAL DE LYON, PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE – CENTRE DE MUSIQUE ROMANTIQUE FRANÇAISE, THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE

Conductor
Giacomo Sagripanti
Stage direction
Christof Loy
Set design
Etienne Pluss
Costume design
Robby Duiveman
Lighting design
Valerio Tiberi
Dramaturgy
Louis Geisler
Conductor assistant
Romain Dumas
Vocal and language coach
Mathieu Pordoy
Vocal coach
Sylvaine Carlier
Staging and movements assistant
Jean-François Kessler
Staging assistant
Dagmar Pischel
Set design assistant
Eleonora Rodigari
Costume assistant
Madeline Cramard
Louise
Elsa Dreisig*
Julien, Le Noctambule
Adam Smith
La Mère, La Première d’atelier
Sophie Koch
Le Père, Le Chiffonnier
Nicolas Courjal
Un Marchand d’habits, Le Pape des fous
Grégoire Mour
La Balayeuse
Roberta Alexander
Irma
Marianne Croux*
Gertrude
Carol Garcia
Camille
Karolina Bengtsson
Madeleine
Marie-Thérèse Keller
Marguerite, La Laitière
Julie Pasturaud*
Élise, La petite Chiffonnière
Marion Vergez-Pascal
Suzanne, La Glaneuse de charbon
Marion Lebègue
Blanche, La Plieuse de journaux
Jennifer Courcier*
L’Apprentie, Le Gavroche
Céleste Pinel
Le Bricoleur
Frédéric Caton
Gardiens de la paix
Filipp Varik, Alexander de Jong
Coryphées
Sharona Applebaum, Marie-Eve Gouin, Sophie Lou, Joanna Curelaru, Alexandra Guérinot, Sylvie Malardenti-Boillot, Liisa Viinanen
Dancers
Lucas Bléger, Natalia Bohn, Laurence De Cet, José-María Mantilla, Caroline Roques
Choirmaster
Benedict Kearns
Choir and Orchestra
Chœurs et Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon
Maîtrise choirmaster
Samuel Coquard
Children’s choir
Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône
Banda
Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée
*Former artists of the Académie

“Depuis le jour où je me suis donnée...” There are few passages in opera that express so evocatively the pleasure of love and its potential to emancipate a young woman as this most famous aria in Louise. Born into a working-class family with strict morals, the heroine ultimately chooses to face an uncertain future alone, a future personified by Paris, the city of freedom and perdition. With his “roman musical” combining social preoccupations with idealistic aspirations, magnificent flights of lyricism and great picturesque scenes, Gustave Charpentier gave the twentieth century its first opera. A true connoisseur of the work, Christof Loy brings out the darker side of a society which, far from emancipating its daughters, offers them nothing but tawdry romances to sublimate a horizon riddled with frustrations. Elsa Dreisig continues her exploration of the roles of young women full of determination and fighting spirit; and she is surrounded by the most brilliant upholders of the French repertoire, conducted by Giacomo Sagripanti at the helm of the Choir and Orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon.

 

The Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de Musique Romantique Française promote the rediscovery of French musical heritage from the long nineteenth century (1780-1920). Its main activities include: research, publication of scores and books, production and international promotion of concerts, support for educational projects, and release of recordings. > further information

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