Opéra de Paris

Romeo and Juliet

In Cinemas 12, 13 & 16 Aug 2023
Conductor
Carlo Rizzi
Orchestra
Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris
Cast
Elsa Dreisig (Juliette), Benjamin Bernheim (Roméo), Lea Desandre (Stephano), Sylvie Brunet (Gertrude), Maciej Kwaśnikowski (Tybalt), Thomas Ricart (Benvolio), Huw Montague Rendall (Mercutio), Sergio Villegas Galvain (Pâris), Jean Teitgen (Frère Laurent)
Composer
Charles Gounod
Director
Thomas Jolly
Set Design
Bruno de Lavenère
Duration
3h29 including interval
Sung in French, with English subtitles.
Captured live from Opéra Bastille, Paris, 26 Jun 2023
Official Event Listing
  • A spectacular triumph! Thomas Jolly succeeds in the challenge of renewing our vision of the drama while respecting it absolutely, giving us some striking scenes that one cannot imagine forgetting.
    Stéphane Lelièvre, BACHTRACK
    Benjamin Bernheim & Elsa Dreisig shine - I have heard few singers with greater musical chemistry.
    João Marcos Copertino, OPERAWIRE
    Power, grandeur, finesse, elegance (an iconic "Ah, léve-toi soleil"), Benjamin Bernheim is at the height of his immense talents. Thomas Jolly lets the music breathe, holds its hand, and watches it flourish.
    Marie-Aude Roux, LE MONDE

Opera in five acts (1867)

New production! How many composers have been inspired by Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers? From Vincenzo Bellini and Hector Berlioz via Leonard Bernstein, the list is long.

If Charles Gounod’s exquisite opera, first performed during the Universal Exhibition of 1867, enjoyed immediate popularity, it's undoubtedly because it translated the tumultuous lives of the celebrated lovers (here the exceptional Elsa Dreisig and Benjamin Bernheim) with the greatest finesse. Four love duets, a fiery waltz, luminous and lyrical music: the entire score trembles with desire and freshness.

This new staging by Thomas Jolly, one of the most inventive directors of his generation and appointed Artistic Director of the Ceremonies for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, celebrates this hymn to youth. Carlo Rizzi conducts.

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