Orphée aux enfers (Jacques Offenbach)
Offenbach was a republican. Despite the emperor, Napoleon III, granting him French citizenship and the Legion d’Honneur, he frequently lampooned his court in his operas.
Orphée aux Enfers is a travesty of the court ballets of Louis XIV and Louis XV. The costumes, in which king and courtiers impersonated gods of Greece and Rome, designs for which are still extant, give an idea of the hubris and pretension of these performances.
In Offenbach’s irreverent opera, the story of Orpheus is turned upside down. Orpheus heartily wishes to be rid of his wife and not to rescue her. The gods are sick of ambrosia and of having to portray a false picture of virtue to humans. The mockery is served up with delicious, toe-tapping music, including the famous can-can.
The production is a revival, with some changes, of our 2018 production.
Musical direction – Nicolas Bercet
Artistic direction – Bernadette Grimmett
Soloists include:
Olivier Trommenschlager – Jupiter
Marion Auchère – Eurydice
– Pluton
Charles Mesrine – Orphée
Anouk Molendjik – Opinion publique
Alexandre Nervet-Palma – Mercure
Manon Gleizes – Junon
Jean-Philippe Poujoulat – Styx
Karlene Moreno-Hayworth – Cupidon
Timothée Moser – Morphée
