Opéra de Paris

Faust

In Cinemas 19, 20 & 23 Jun 2021
Conductor
Lorenzo Viotti
Orchestra
Orchestre de l'Opéra national de Paris
Cast
Benjamin Bernheim (Faust), Christian Van Horn (Méphistophélès), Florian Sempey (Valentin), Christian Helmer (Wagner), Ermonela Jaho (Marguerite), Michèle Losier (Siébel), Sylvie Brunet Grupposo (Dame Marthe), Jean-Yves Chilot (Aged Faust)
Composer
Charles Gounod
Director
Tobais Kratzer
Set Design
Rainer Sellmaier
Duration
3h40 incl. 2 intervals
French with English subtitles
Captured live (without audience) from Opéra Bastille, Paris 22 Mar 2021
Official Event Listing
  • A meaningful, beautiful, effective, modern, and magical production. Benjamin Bernheim & Ermonela deliver superstar quality performances.
    Mauricio Villa, OPERAWIRE
    Kratzer offers a spectacular vision of Gounod's work, with a perfect mastery of breathtaking special effects. Bernheim is exceptional, Jaho touching, and Lorenzo Viotti offers an eminently theatrical direction.
    Christian Peter, FORUM OPERA
    Glorious!
    Jean-Luc Clairet, RESMUSICA

Opera in five acts (1859)

New Production! I want a treasure, which contains them all! I want youth! Frustrated by the futile quest for knowledge, the erudite old Faust (French tenor Benjamin Bernheim) sells his soul to the devil (Christian Van Horn) in exchange for eternal youth and the beautiful Marguerite (superstar soprano Ermonelo Jaho)… Florian Sempey sings the role of Marguerite's brother Valentin, a soldier. 

Reworking the legend which Goethe popularised, Gounod focuses on the love story and elevates the significance of Marguerite’s fall and ultimate salvation. His decision to lighten the philosophical scope of the narrative allowed him to balance scenes where the supernatural called for something visually spectacular with a parallel microcosm governed by inner actions and feelings. Gounod’s score is a tour de force of melodic invention whose vocal composition reveals the composer’s skill at conveying sincere and immediate emotion. 

For his Paris Opera debut, German director Tobias Kratzer reflects on contemporary society’s obsession for eternal youth. With its sophisticated scenography, his production oscillates between hyperrealism and magic, the world of today and the eerie atmosphere of German romanticism.

Hosted by renowned musicologist and former Radio Classique presenter Alain Duault, the cinema presentation features exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Mr. Kratzer, Mr. Bernheim, Ms. Jaho, Mr. Sempey and chorus master José Luis Basso.

Opéra de Paris

Opéra de Paris is one of the world's greatest opera and ballet companies. Founded more than three centuries ago by Louis XIV, it now holds performances in two theatres, the Palais Garnier (1875) and the Opéra Bastille (1989). The company’s mission is to preserve and develop our operatic and ballet heritage and it gives more than 350 performances per year. Great composers such as Rameau, Gluck, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner, Gounod, Massenet, Poulenc and Messiaen all gave the first performances of their works here.

See more productions from: Opéra national de Paris