Opéra de Paris

Les Indes Galantes

In Cinemas 13, 14, 15 & 18 Dec 2019
Conductor
Leonardo García Alarcón
Orchestra
Orchestre Cappella Mediterranea
Cast
Sabine Devieilhe (Hébé/Phani/Zima), Florian Sempey (Bellone/Adario), Julie Fuchs (Émilie/Fatime), Mathias Vidal (Valère/ Tacmas), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (Osman/Ali), Jodie Devos (L’Amour/ Zaïre), Alexandre Duhamel (Huascar/ Don Alvar), Stanislas de Barbeyrac (Don Carlos/Damon)
Composer
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Director
Clément Cogitore
Set Design
Alban Ho Van
Duration
4h09 including interval
Sung in French, with English subtitles
Captured live from Opéra Bastille, Paris 10 Oct 2019
Official Event Listing
  • Invigorating. A statement that audiences around the world cannot afford to ignore. The audience reaction was electrifying, with cheers and an ovation I have simply never seen at the Opéra de Paris
    Mélissa Lesnie, LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
    Supercharged with fresh energy. Mr. Cogitore and Ms. Dembélé have shifted the work’s power dynamics substantially toward egalitarianism. The dancing and music share a ferociously polished extravagance.
    Zachary Woolfe, THE NEW YORK TIMES
    It is all ravishing to the senses, a kind of modernised noble savagery. It is beautifully done, with fine singing from the cast, who share multiple roles, and the chorus, and tireless playing from the ensemble.
    Shirley Apthorp, THE FINANCIAL TIMES
    Unforgettable. The female cast is, quite frankly, astounding. But the main architect of the success of this evening is Leonardo Garcia Alarcón, who draws an extraordinary palette of colours from his orchestra. The sophistication is exceptional.
    Philippe Ramin, BACHTRACK

Opera-Ballet in four acts & a prologue (1735)

New Production! A masterpiece of the Enlightenment, Les Indes galantes ('The Amorous Indies') is a sparkling entertainment about love and fidelity in exotic places. However, Rameau’s opera-ballet also manifests an ambiguous humanism: the European view of Otherness – Turks, Incas, Persians, “Savages”.

In 2017, award-winning artist & director Clément Cogitore made an explosive and critically acclaimed short film adapting an extract from the work in collaboration with exponents of Krump dance. This time, with renowned hip hop exponent and choreographer Bintou Dembélé he takes up Rameau’s box of delights in its entirety, again transposing it to an urban and political space. 

This production, a highlight of the Paris Opera's 350th Anniversary season, features a topflight cast of the next wave of French singers, including outstanding soprano Sabine Devieilhe, Jodie Devos and Julie Fuchs, along with Florian Sempey, Edwin Crossley-Mercer, Mathias Vidal and Stanislas de Barbeyrac, joined on stage by scores of dancers.

In the pit, the talented Argentinean conductor Leonardo García Alarcón leads his Orchestre Cappella Mediterranea.

[Read] "Can “Les Indes Galantes” subvert the ideology it was written to uphold? Ms. Dembélé and Clément Cogitore, the artist and filmmaker making his stage debut as the production’s director, are betting that it can." - The New York Times (25/09/19)

Hosted by musicologist Alain Duault, the cinema presentation includes the full performance, captured live in HD from the stage of Opéra Bastille in October, plus exclusive backstage footage and interviews with Mr. Cogitore, Ms. Dembele and the cast.

 

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