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The expression “Sainte Nitouche” (literally “(female) Saint Wouldn’t-Touch-It”) appeared for the first time in Rabelais’ Gargantua in 1534 and referred to a woman who appears innocent, wise and even prudish, yet who by nature defies morality and conventions in private. In the 19th century, the Sainte Nitouche took on the traits of the “emancipated” woman: from the dancer to the socialite, from the established bourgeoise to the simple peasant girl, every art form portrays the ambivalence between a strict upbringing and moral emancipation. It is not surprising that Hervé plays the title-role of his operetta in 1883…
First performed in Théâtre des Variétés, Paris, 26 January 1883
Editions Palazzetto Bru Zane
*Costumes made by the Angers Nantes Opéra workshops
Residence at Lully Conservatory – City of Puteaux
Creation on the 13th October 2017 at the Opéra de Toulon
Born in Grasse in 1965, Olivier Py entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in 1987, and began studying theology at the same time. In 1995, he created a sensation at the Festival d’Avignon by directing his text La Servante, a cycle of plays lasting twenty-four hours. In 1997, he became director of the Centre dramatique national d’Orléans, which he left ten years later to direct the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe. In 2013, he became the first director appointed to head the Avignon Festival since Jean Vilar. In 2023, he was appointed Director of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Alongside his directing activities, Olivier Py is also an author (published mainly by Actes Sud) and actor. With his female alter ego, Miss Knife, he takes his singing tour all over the world. He has directed some fifty plays and as many operas. He has directed three films, including Le Molière imaginaire (due for release in February 2024). As an artist and a citizen, Olivier Py regularly takes a stand and engages in numerous political and societal battles.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Vase de parfums (2005), Mam’zelle Nitouche (2019) and L’Amour vainqueur (2022).
Pierre-André Weitz took his first steps on stage at the Théâtre du Peuple de Bussang at the age of ten, where he acted and sang, as well as making and designing sets and costumes until he was 25 years old. At the same time, he studied architecture in Strasbourg and entered the Conservatoire d’art lyrique. During this period, he was a chorister at the Opéra national du Rhin. In 1989, he met Olivier Py and since then he has designed all the latter’s sets and costumes. He has created more than 150 sets for various other directors, both in theatre and opera (Jean Chollet, Michel Raskine, Claude Buchvald, Jean-Michel Rabeux, Ivan Alexandre, Jacques Vincey, Hervé Loichemol, Sylvie Rentona, Karelle Prugnaud, Mireille Delunsch, Christine Berg…). This research into space and time has also led him to perform as a musician or as an author in certain shows. He has been teaching stage design for over 20 years at the École supérieure des arts décoratifs in Strasbourg. Recently, he directed Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde and Mam’zelle Nitouche, two Palazzetto Bru Zane productions.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Vase de parfums (2005) and L’Amour vainqueur (2022).
Christophe Grapperon studied accordion and musicology before focusing on choral and orchestral direction. He was first hired as a baritone by several vocal ensembles, but also went on to perform as a soloist, for example in La Grande-duchesse de Gérolstein at the Châtelet and in Iphigénie en Tauride at the Opéra de Paris. In 2000, he assisted Marc Minkowski on a production of Manon at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Minkowski then asked him to direct the Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble choir.
Since 2007, he has overseen the musical direction of Les Brigands, alongside Loïc Boissier, and directed rare works of Lattès, Delibes, Offenbach, and more recently, Les chevaliers de la Table ronde by Hervé, a co-production with the Palazetto Bru Zane. After three years of working with the Accentus choir, Laurence Equilbey asked him to become its associate director. In 2016, he succeeded Rachid Safir at the head of the Solistes XXI ensemble. In 2016, he directed Opérakoé, a giant opera karaoke put on by the Opéra Comique, where he directed pre-concerts and discovery workshops of the following year’s repertoire.
After studying musicology and writing, as well as singing at the CNSMD de Lyon (class of Françoise Pollet), Samy Camps was a boarder at the Fondation Royaumont and the Académie du Festival d’Aix- en-Provence in 2013. He was nominated in the lyric revelation category at the 2015 Victoires de la musique classique awards, and takes master classes from renowned artists such as Teresa Berganza, François Le Roux, Udo Reinemann and Ruben Lifschitz. Comfortable in young leading roles, he played Romeo in the recreation of Georg Benda’s Romeo und Julie at the Centre lyrique Clermont-Auvergne. Fascinated by the French repertoire, he has been collaborating since 2016 with the Palazzetto Bru Zane and director Pierre-André Weitz: revival of Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Roland) at the Théâtre de l’Athénée, creation and tour of Mam’zelle Nitouche (Champlâtreux) alongside Olivier Py. He takes part in several contemporary creations: Noël Lee’s cantata Paraboles, Pierre Fleutiaux and Pierre Bartholomée’s opera Nous sommes éternels at the Opéra de Metz. He adds several Offenbach roles to his repertoire, playing Gardefeu (La Vie parisienne) and Piquillo (La Périchole) at the Odéon de Marseille, and the title role in Orphée aux Enfers at the Opéra d’Avignon. More recently, he tackled Don José in a participatory version for young audiences at Opéra de Rouen, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Festival de Flayosc. After the pandemic break, Samy Camps returned to the stage with Offenbach’s Le Violoneux (Pierre), Johann Strauss II’s Valses de Vienne, La Veuve joyeuse (Camille) and La Vie parisienne at the Odéon de Marseille; La traviata at the Festival Eva Ganizate and the Fabrique-Opéra Val-de-Loire); La Veuve joyeuse at the Opéra de Nice; Don Carlo (Un Hérault), Rossini’s Elisabetta, regina d’Inghilterra (Norfolk), L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc (Guy Flores) at Opéra de Marseille; La traviata at Estonian National Opera; Il trovatore (Ruiz) at Opéra de Paris; Macbeth (Macduff) at Opéra de Saint-Étienne. In 2023/24, he will appear as Pelléas at the Estonian National Opera.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Mam’zelle Nitouche (2019).
Clémentine Bourgoin began by learning the cello, before studying singing and acting. She has performed on various opera stages in France and Europe, notably in Hervé’s trilogy of operettas staged by Pierre-André Weitz: Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde, Mam’zelle Nitouche and V’lan dans l’œil, the last of which will be performed in 2021 at the Théâtre du Châtelet. She also sung the roles of The Shepherdess and the Bat in Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges at the Opéra de Limoges and The Princess in Olivier Py’s chamber opera L’Amour vainqueur, premiered at the 2019 Avignon Festival and then performed on international tour. Recently, she played Sylvabelle in L’Auberge du Cheval-Blanc at the Opéra de Lausanne and at the Opéra de Marseille, as well as Les Petites Noces, an adaptation of Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro with Les Musiciens du Louvre.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Mam’zelle Nitouche (2019), L’Auberge du Cheval-Blanc (2021) and L’amour vainqueur (2022).
Christophe Grapperon studied accordion and musicology before focusing on choral and orchestral direction. He was first hired as a baritone by several vocal ensembles, but also went on to perform as a soloist, for example in La Grande-duchesse de Gérolstein at the Châtelet and in Iphigénie en Tauride at the Opéra de Paris. In 2000, he assisted Marc Minkowski on a production of Manon at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo. Minkowski then asked him to direct the Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble choir.
Since 2007, he has overseen the musical direction of Les Brigands, alongside Loïc Boissier, and directed rare works of Lattès, Delibes, Offenbach, and more recently, Les chevaliers de la Table ronde by Hervé, a co-production with the Palazetto Bru Zane. After three years of working with the Accentus choir, Laurence Equilbey asked him to become its associate director. In 2016, he succeeded Rachid Safir at the head of the Solistes XXI ensemble. In 2016, he directed Opérakoé, a giant opera karaoke put on by the Opéra Comique, where he directed pre-concerts and discovery workshops of the following year’s repertoire.
The Opéra de Lausanne Choir is young, made up of students of singing from Lausanne’s University of Music and the Geneva HEM, and professional singers. Its members are selected by audition and periodically reheard. For each opera, they are distributed depending on their voice and/or aptitudes. Thanks mainly to their talent on stage, supported by an infectious enthusiasm, they are highly appreciated by all the theatre directors invited. For a few years the choir has benefitted from preparation by several experienced choir masters from different backgrounds, chosen depending on the works being sung and their specific interest.
Jean-Philippe Clerc is currently working as a vocal coach and pianist at the Opéra de Lausanne as well as for the singing classes and the Atelier lyrique of the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. In parallel to his institutional commitments, he prepares numerous singers for their operatic roles or oratorio concerts and regularly performs as an accompanist throughout Europe and Asia. After obtaining his piano diploma at the Geneva Conservatory, he studied with Esther Yellin at the Neuhaus Foundation. Passionate about singing, which he studied with Frédéric Gindraux, he naturally turned to accompanying and coaching singers in various music schools as well as at the opera houses of Fribourg, Reims, the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Avenches Opera Festival. For several years, Jean-Philippe Clerc has also been conducting. As maestro al cembalo, he conducted Handel’s Alcina and Così fan tutte in Sion, as well as Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, directed by Éric Vigié in a production of the Opéra de Lausanne on tour in Bhutan. In the summer of 2021, he conducted Christiné’s operetta Dédé as part of the Opéra de Lausanne’s Route Lyrique. He has been entrusted with the preparation and direction of the Opéra de Lausanne choir on various projects such as Mam’zelle Nitouche by Hervé or Gli amori di Teolinda by Meyerbeer.
Pierre-André Weitz took his first steps on stage at the Théâtre du Peuple de Bussang at the age of ten, where he acted and sang, as well as making and designing sets and costumes until he was 25 years old. At the same time, he studied architecture in Strasbourg and entered the Conservatoire d’art lyrique. During this period, he was a chorister at the Opéra national du Rhin. In 1989, he met Olivier Py and since then he has designed all the latter’s sets and costumes. He has created more than 150 sets for various other directors, both in theatre and opera (Jean Chollet, Michel Raskine, Claude Buchvald, Jean-Michel Rabeux, Ivan Alexandre, Jacques Vincey, Hervé Loichemol, Sylvie Rentona, Karelle Prugnaud, Mireille Delunsch, Christine Berg…). This research into space and time has also led him to perform as a musician or as an author in certain shows. He has been teaching stage design for over 20 years at the École supérieure des arts décoratifs in Strasbourg. Recently, he directed Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde and Mam’zelle Nitouche, two Palazzetto Bru Zane productions.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Vase de parfums (2005) and L’Amour vainqueur (2022).
After making his debut with Pierre Barrat at Colmar’s Atelier lyrique du Rhin, he worked with Fran- çois Tanguy and the Théâtre du Radeau for several years. In 2000, he reunited with Pierre André Weitz, whom he had met at a production at the Théâtre du Peuple in Bussang in 1988; the latter introduced him to Olivier Py. Since then, he has designed the lighting for their theater productions and some sixty operas in France and abroad. He has also designed lighting for such artists as Ivan Alexandre, Pierre Lebon, Jacques Vincey, Kidjo and Isabelle Huppert at the Festival d’Avignon.