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1858. Faced with the threat of closure by the bailiffs of his Bouffes-Parisiens theatre whose coffers had been desperately empty since its opening three years earlier, Jacques Offenbach tried to do everything he could by writing (at last!) a major work aimed at balancing the budget and establishing his reputation as a composer. Encouraged in his approach by Napoleon III’s half-brother the Duke of Morny – who signed the libretto of Monsieur Choufleuri under a pseudonym and was no doubt responsible for the abolition of the limit on the number of characters and choruses in the Bouffes-Parisiens’ productions – Offenbach ventured to write the opera that would become the foundation of his legend: Orpheus aux Enfers. The appointment with eternity took place on 21 October 1858. Hector Crémieux had concocted a high-flying libretto based on an original idea by Ludovic Halévy (to whom Offenbach dedicated his score): an offbeat and anachronistic plunge into ancient Greece featuring a subtle yet extremely caustic background portrayal of the insipid vanity of Second Empire society. The bold move proved a hit and was enthusiastically received audiences – despite the fact that they were the primary target. The composer had taken impressive liberties for his first “no-holds-barred” work. Four acts, seven male and seven female singers, a large chorus and orchestra: the one-act operettas before this “opéra bouffon” – its exact name – appeared mere first drafts compared with this. One might as well come out and state that this was the first great French operetta.
First performance at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris, October 21, 1858.
Heugel & Cie Editions represented by Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag AG, Zürich
L’Opéra de Lausanne dédie les représentations d’Orphée aux Enfers à la mémoire de Léonard Gianadda, Mécène et soutien indéfectible de notre Théâtre.
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).
With a solid musical training (Maîtrise de Radio France, Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris, Académie de l’Opéra de Paris, Académie du Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Young Singers Project of the Salzburg Festival), Marie Perbost was named révélation lyrique by Adami in 2016 and révélation artiste lyrique at the Victoires de la musique classique 2020. In the course of her young career, she has appeared as Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Despina (Così fan tutte), Elisetta (Il matrimonio segreto), La Jeune Femme (Boesmans’ Reigen), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Marzelline (Fidelio), Lucine (Le Testament de tante Caroline by Roussel), La Comtesse (Richard Cœur de Lion by Grétry), La Folie (Platée), Prosperina & Ninfa (L’Orfeo), Musetta (La bohème), and Almaïde (La Caravane du Caire by Grétry). In recital, she performs with Joséphine Ambroselli (with whom she won the Grand Prix of the Nadia et Lili Boulanger International Competition in 2015 and published “Une jeunesse à Paris” on Harmonia Mundi), Nicolas Chesneau and Jean-Michel Dayez. During the 2023/24 season, she can be heard in Idomeneo (Ilia) at the Capitole de Toulouse, Durón’s zarzuela Coronis with Le Poème harmonique, Mozart’s Requiem staged by Bartabas at the Académie équestre du domaine de Versailles, as well as with La Symphonie de Poche, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France and Les Épopées. Committed to the dissemination of contemporary creation, she is a founding member and solo soprano of Ensemble 101. In May 2021, her recording of “Abendlied” (Haydn quartets) with Ensemble Consonance was released on the Hérisson label. It is followed by “Rameau chez la Pompadour” with Les Surprises for Alpha, Grands Motets de Gervais with Les Ombres (Château de Versailles Spectacles), Ariane et Bacchus with Le Concert Spirituel for Outhere and Les Génies de Mademoiselle Duval with Il Caravaggio for CVS.
Born in Rotterdam, Arie van Beek worked as a percussionist before turning to conducting. He was Music Director of the Orchestre d’Auvergne from 1994 to 2010, of the Orchestre de Picardie from 2011 to 2022, and of the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève from 2013 to 2022. From the age of nineteen and for forty-eight years, he was also conductor, teacher and concert programmer at Codarts – the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music. A permanent conductor of the Doelen Ensemble in Rotterdam and a regular guest with numerous French and European orchestras, his repertoire ranges from Baroque music to works by living composers. Arie van Beek is a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2008 received the Médaille de la Ville de Clermont-Ferrand. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Elly Ameling-Prize for his contribution to the artistic influence of the city of Rotterdam. In 2014, he also received the Erasmus Prize from the city of Rotterdam.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Le petit prince (2014) and My Fair Lady (2015)
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).
Julien Dran discovered singing thanks to his parents, themselves both opera singers. He studied at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux and the CNIPAL in Marseille. After graduating from the latter, he was quickly engaged to sing increasingly important roles such as Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Ferrando (Così fan tutte), Fenton (Falstaff), Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi). He won the Concours international Gayarre in Pamplona under the presidency of Teresa Berganza in 2013 and, in the same year, the Prix de l’Opéra de Paris at the Salle Gaveau in the male singer category. He has performed in France and abroad in Les Pêcheurs de perles, Fra Diavolo (where he played the title role), L’italiana in Algeri (Lindoro), Béatrice et Bénédict (Benedict) and Carlotta ou la Vaticane (Tiberius), a world premiere by Dominique Gesseney-Rappo at the Opéra de Fribourg. Among the highlights of his last seasons: Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in Marseille, Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) in Quebec, the title role in Gounod’s Faust and Alfredo (La traviata) at the opera houses of Marseille, Toulouse, Vichy and Limoges, the Viceroy of Naples in the world premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie’s Le Soulier de satin at the Opéra Bastille and Mireille at the Opéra de Metz.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Belle Hélène (2019), L’Auberge du Cheval-Blanc (2021) and My Fair Lady (2022).
A graduate of the Royal Academy of London, Nicolas Cavallier successfully began his career in roles from operas by Mozart (Figaro, Don Giovanni, Don Alfonso) and Rossini (Selim, Mustafa, Alidoro). The evolution of his voice subsequently led Nicolas Cavallier to perform a wider repertoire (Mephistopheles in Faust, Don Quixote, Nilakhanta in Lakmé, the four Devils in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet, Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande, the Marquis de la Force in Dialogues des Carmélites, Philippe II in Don Carlos, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Scarpia in Tosca, the Dutchman in Der Fliegende Höllander, Henrich der Vogel in Lohengrin, Orest in Elektra…). Appearing on many national and international stages, he has collaborated with conductors such as Michel Plasson, Myung-Whun Chung, Armin Jordan, Marc Minkowski, Evelino Pido, Alberto Zedda, Emmanuel Krivine, Philippe Jordan, Colin Davis, John Eliot Gardiner and Pinchas Steinberg, as well as with directors Wajdi Mouawad, Stanislas Nordey, Olivier Py, Robert Wilson, David Hermann and Johannes Erath. Recent performances include Don Inigo Gomez in L’Heure espagnole with the London Symphony Orchestra and François-Xavier Roth in London, the four Devils (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and the title role in Rubinstein’s Demon at the Opéra de Bordeaux, the title role in Don Quichotte in Tours, Walter Furst (Guillaume Tell) and The High Priest (Samson et Dalila) at the Chorégies d’Orange, The Sacristan (Tosca), Don Balthazar (Le Soulier de Satin), Phorbas and Le Veilleur (Œdipe) at the Opéra de Paris, the Marquis de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Caen, Bologna and recently at the Zurich Opera, Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) at the Opéra national du Rhin, Saint-Bris (Les Huguenots) at La Monnaie in Brussels, and Narbal (Les Troyens) at the Cologne Opera, Le Grand Prêtre (Samson et Dalila) at the Chorégies d’Orange and in Avignon, Le Hollandais in Massy and Méphistophélès in Saint-Étienne, Reims, Limoges and Vichy, L’Heure espagnole at London (with the London Symphony and François-Xavier Roth) and at the Opéra-Comique (under the direction of Louis Langrée).
At the Opéra de Lausanne: My Fair Lady (2022) and Orphée aux Enfers (2023).
Mezzo-soprano Sophie Pondjiclis studied music at the CNSM in Paris and at the Ecole d’art lyrique de l’Opéra de Paris. She won the Toti dal Monte International Singing Competition in Italy. With more than 70 roles in her repertoire, she has performed on the most important international opera stages, including playing Hate in Gluck’s Armide and Javotte in Manon (Milan Scala), Mercedes in Carmen, the voice from the grave (Antonia’s mother) in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Opéra de Paris), Olga in Eugene Onegin (Grand Théâtre de Genève), the title role in Handel’s Amadigli (San Carlo de Naples, Opéra de Paris), Le Martyre de saint Sébastien (Hamburg Opera), Stravinsky’s Noces (Théâtre du Châtelet, Maggio Musicale in Florence), L’Enfant et les sortilèges (Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Stockholm), La forza del destino, Otello (Chorégies d’Orange), Adalgisa in Norma (Peking), Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, the title role in Carmen (France, Japan, Skopje, Bastia, Biel, Bern, Treviso…), Madame de Croissy in Dialogues des Carmélites, the Princess de Bouillon in Adriana Lecouvreur, Queen Gertrude in Hamlet. For the 45th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the Théâtre du Châtelet entrusted her with the role of Havas in Germaine Tillon’s Verfügbar aux Enfers. Recent and future engagements include Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro (Lyon), Filipievna in Eugene Onegin (Toulouse), Clémence Chouilloux in On purge bébé by Philippe Boesmans (Brussels, Lyon) and Mescalina in Le Grand Macabre by Ligeti (Georges Enesco Festival in Bucharest). Sophie Pondjiclis is a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Le nozze di Figaro (2007).
After training in singing and theater, Carole Meyer obtained a master’s degree in opera singing in June 2010 at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, in the class of Gary Magby. During her studies, she joined the Opéra de Lausanne Choir and received several grants (Mosetti, Jost Foundation…). During her academic career, she sang the roles of Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Fortuna and Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte conducted by Jesus López Cóbos). On the Swiss and French stages, she has appeared as Laetitia (The Old Maid and the Thief by Menotti), Alcina (title role) by Handel, Luigia (Viva la mamma by Donizetti at the Opera of Metz), the Second Witch (Dido and Aeneas), Grilletta (Lo speziale by Haydn), Asa (Manru by Paderewski), Simone (Les Mousquetaires au couvent at the Opera of Toulon), Tamiri (Il re pastore). Her French career takes a new turn thanks, among other things, to the Festival Durance-Luberon, in which she participates since 2021, and to the duo she creates with the pianist Tristan Legris. Moreover, so that her art can also concretely help those who need it most, she is mobilized in favor of charitable associations, whether it is within the framework of CALMS (Les Voix Solidaires) or, more recently, with pianist François-René Duchâble at the Estivales de Berdine. In the pipeline: Gérard Massini’s Eden Park (role of Imogene) at the Oriental-Vevey and at the Pullof in Lausanne, and a recital of French melodies.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Rinaldo (2011), Monsieur Choufleuri (Route Lyrique 2012), Viva la mamma (2013), Les Mousquetaires au couvent (2013), L’Aiglon (2013), Le Chanteur de Mexico (2017), and Le domino noir (2023).
A Franco-Italian mezzo-soprano born in Milan, Béatrice Nani joined Brigitte Balleys’ class at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in 2014, graduating with a Master of Singing in 2019. She is currently perfecting her vocal skills with Jeanne-Michele Charbonnet. Passionate about theater, she trained with Gaëlle Bourgeois and Fiona Chauvin in Paris, and received invaluable advice from Thierry Pillon, Jean-Yves Ruf and Shin Iglesias. In 2016, she made her Geneva debut, creating the role of Ella Maillart in Guy-François Leuenberger’s Le Ruisseau noir at the Théâtre du Grütli. She then played Lois in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate at the Théâtre du Galpon. She was also heard in Bottesini’s Requiem at the Victoria Hall. In 2022, she made her French debut as La Mère in Guy-François Leuenberger’s contemporary children’s opera Le Petit Chaperon rouge at the Opéra de Tours. In 2023, she sings the title role in Bizet’s Carmen on tour in Switzerland. In the 2023/24 season, she is Mercedes in Carmen and Didon in Dido and Aeneas. She can also be heard in Palmeri’s Misa a Buenos Aires and in concert with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne conducted by Marc Leroy-Calatayud. A committed artist, she founded the Les Rocambolantes company with pianist Émilie Roulet, and is involved in a number of performance and mediation projects for young audiences and the disadvantaged. The show Mimi and the Blondies, which she staged with soprano Anne-Sophie Petit, won the Lavaux Classic prize.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Vie Parisienne (2016), Le Chanteur de Mexico (2017), Cendrillon (2018), Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Route Lyrique 2019), Dédé (Route Lyrique 2021), Candide (2022), Orphée aux Enfers (2023).
Yuki Tsurusaki received her vocal training from Hiroko Kawamichi at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne. From an early age, she has loved the stage: practicing the piano as well as dance, she is an artist equally at ease in both the danced and sung repertoires. Keen to touch her audience, she attaches great importance to interpretation and her relationship with the body, which she has developed in particular with Armand Deladoëy and Enmando. She won the Mosetti scholarship during her studies, as well as first prizes at the Vienne en Voix and Léopold Bellan competitions in Paris. In the operatic repertoire, she sings the roles of Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone, Miles in The Turn of The Screw, Micaëla and Frasquita in Carmen, as well as creations such as Il gatto con gli stivali by Rinaldo Bellucci at the Turin Opera. She performs at various festivals in Japan, Russia and the United States. She is currently perfecting her vocal skills with the likes of Ludovic Tézier, Béatrice Uria-Monzon, Antoine Palloc and Nadine Denize.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Les Zoocrates by Thierry Besançon (2017), Die Fledermaus (2018), Dédé (Route Lyrique 2021), Le Petit Chaperon rouge by Guy-François Leuenberger (2021), L’Auberge du Cheval-Blanc (2021), Orphée aux Enfers (2023).
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).
The daughter of a musician, Emma Delannoy soon discovered her love of opera singing. At the age of 15, she entered the Geneva Conservatory of Music in Juliette Galstian’s Musimax class. She then joined Hiroko Kawamichi’s singing class at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, obtaining her bachelor’s degree in June 2020, and joined Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet’s class, graduating with a master’s degree in concert performance in June 2022. In May 2022, she plays La Princesse in Le Chat botté, a creation by Étienne Crausaz and Jacques Doutaz in collaboration with Opéra des Champs. In July 2022, she was Poppea in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Trentino Music Festival. Since September 2022, she has been a member of the Opéra de Lausanne Chorus, regularly leading its opera workshops. She was Oscar in Un ballo in maschera in January 2023 with Operami. In August 2023, she sings alongside Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and his ensemble I Gemelli at the Festival du Toûno. Alongside her musical career, Emma Delannoy also obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Musicology from the University of Geneva.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: L’Île de Tulipatan (Route Lyrique 2023) and Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon (2023).
Having studied under Blandine de Saint-Sauveur and Leontina Vaduva, Hoël Troadec recently completed his training at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne. He has already taken on many roles, such as Nathanaël (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Beppe (Rita), Silvio (Le Docteur Miracle), Benedict (Béatrice et Bénédict), Gardefeu (La Vie parisienne), the Chevalier de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Paris (La Belle Hélène), Roland (Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde), Schmidt (Werther), Tonio (La Fille du régiment) and Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore). His roles have taken him to prestigious stages such as the Bregenzer Festspiele, the Opéra de Massy, the Opéra de Clermont-Ferrand, the Opéra de Vichy, the Opéra de Lausanne and, recently, the Opéra de Lyon.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Route Lyrique 2019), La Belle Hélène (2019), Le Petit Chaperon rouge (2021), Candide (2022), and L’Île de Tulipatan (Route Lyrique 2023)
Winner of the first prize for piano at the Conservatoire de paris, vocal coach for the Académie international de comédie musicale. Frédéric Longbois is a multi-faceted artist who was one of Jérôme Savary’s favourite performers for 20 years at the Théâtre de Chaillot and then at the Opéra-Comique. On television, he has appeared in José Dayan’s Milady, Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie, Famille d’accueil, Le Sang de la vigne, and Chez Maupassant. He has also acted in French films alongside Isabelle Huppert, Nathalie Baye, Danielle Darrieux, Clémentine Célarié, Romain Duris, Fabrice Lucchini… More recently, Frédéric Longbois was one of the most striking figures in Season 7 of The Voice. A veritable phenomenon on Mika’s team, Frédéric stood out from the blind auditions, as much for his unusual personality that is both touching and colourful, as for his vocal technique.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Vie parisienne (2005), Die lustige Wittwe (2014), Le Chanteur de Mexico (2017) and Les Contes d’Hoffmann (2019).
Born on the island of La Réunion, Aslam Safla began studying the violin at the age of six, and began singing pop at sixteen. In 2010, he moved to Tours and began a professional career as a singer in American folk, country and bluegrass bands, as well as in a circus. In 2016, he was introduced to opera singing and entered Jean-François Rouchon’s class at the Conservatoire de Cergy-Pontoise.
He then decided to go professional in the world of opera. He devotes his time to gaining experience in this practice, through opera workshops, summer academies and masterclasses. In January 2020, he won 1st prize in the Voix des Outre-mer competition and joined Leontina Vaduva’s class at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in September 2020.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: L’Auberge du Cheval-Blanc (2021), Werther (2022), L’elisir d’amore (2022), My Fair Lady (2022), Le Domino noir (2023) and Orphée aux Enfers (2023).
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.
rained at the Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence, where he began his career under the baton of Darius Milhaud, Patrick Marie Aubert obtained a first prize in orchestral conducting in the class of Pierre Villette. He also won a prize for singing, a prize for lyric art and a prize for chamber music. He was a professor of the choral singing class and then director of the Léo Delibes Conservatory in Clichy, artistic director of the Vox Hominis vocal ensemble, musical director of the Divertimento orchestra and conductor of the choirs of the Nantes Opera. Conductor of the French Army Choir until 2000, he has participated for nearly twenty years in major national events and has conducted numerous concerts in France and abroad. He was the conductor of the Chœur du Capitole de Toulouse from 2003 to 2009, then director of the Chœur de l’Opéra national de Paris from 2009 to 2014. He has collaborated with conductors Maurizio Arena, Serge Baudo, Roberto Benzi, Marc Minkowski, Evelino Pidò, Michel Plasson, Georges Prêtre, Yutaka Sado, Jeffrey Tate… and directors Robert Carsen, Georges Lavaudant, Jorge Lavelli, Laurent Pelly, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Olivier Py, Robert Wilson…
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Orpheus and Eurydice (2019), The Tales of Hoffmann (2019), the exceptional concert of the Opera de Lausanne Choir (2020), Little Red Riding Hood (2021), Candide (2022), Le domino noir (2023)
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.
A native of Piedmont, Ivo Bauchiero received his dance training in Turin, first studying jazz and classical dance, which he then integrated into contemporary dance, dance theater and caractère dance. He trained in Graham, Horton, Mattox, Cunningham and Ailey techniques. He enriched his practice by experimenting with circus disciplines and aerial dance. He began his professional career in Rome. After a number of projects in the peninsula, he settled in Paris and has since spread his wings across France and Europe, as well as appearing on stages in other continents in shows, musicals, operas, operetta, films, music videos and concerts. As a dancer, assistant director and choreographer, he has appeared on Rai, Mediaset and French television, as well as in major theaters and events such as Turin’s Teatro Regio, the Venice Dance Biennale, La Scala in Milan, Opéra de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Opéra Comique, Opéra de Bordeaux, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opéra de Montpellier and La Monnaie de Munt.
After studying art at the Haute école des arts décoratifs de Strasbourg (HEAD) and graduating from the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre (ENSATT), Mathieu Crescence worked from 2010 to 2016 as assistant costume designer at the Opéra de Paris on the creations of La forza del destino, Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus, Tosca (directed by Pierre Audi) and Samson et Dalila. At the same time, he assists film costume designers Dominique Borg and Christian Gasc. In 2013, he joined the Pierre-André Weitz/Olivier Py duo as assistant set designer/costume designer on various productions, a collaboration that continues to this day. In 2017, after serving as costume assistant to Kaspar Glarner for Verdi’s Otello at Covent Garden, he began an artistic collaboration with him in 2018 on Prokofiev’s L’Ange de feu at the Warsaw Opera, followed in 2019 by Mtsensk’s Lady Macbeth at the Frankfurt Opera and Les Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Vienna Staatsoper in 2022. From 2018 to 2021, he assists Malgorzata Szczęśniak on costume design for several stagings by Kristof Warlikowski at the Salzburg Festival: Hans Werner Henze’s Les Bassarides, Elektra and Macbeth. In 2014, he designed the sets for Peter Eövös’ Balcon at the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet in Paris, and Massenet’s Don César de Bazan at the Opéra de Reims, both directed by Damien Bigourdan. From 2018 to 2021, he designed the sets and costumes for La Périchole, Carmen and Werther, all productions directed by Romain Gilbert and presented at the Opéra de Bordeaux. In 2024, he initiated a collaboration with Robert Carsen as assistant costume designer for Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival, before co-designing the set for Janáček’s Les Voyages de Monsieur Brouček, a co-production between the opera houses of Brno, Madrid’s Teatro Real and Berlin’s Staatsoper.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Orphée aux Enfers (2023).