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that fictional character who emerged in 1881 from the imagination of Italian journalist and writer Carlo Collodi and has since entered the pantheon of children’s literature, still require any form of introduction? The first lines of his Adventures are enough to set the scene: “Once upon a time. A King!” my little readers will immediately exclaim. No, children, you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood. This “piece of wood”, called “Pinocchio” – which in the old Tuscan dialect spoken by the carpenter Geppetto means “little gable” – inspired the German composer Gloria Bruni to write a children’s opera based on a libretto by best-selling author Ursel Scheffler, which was first presented to the public in 2008 at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg. The work, which quickly became a ‘classic’, was adapted into Italian in 2013 for the San Carlo in Naples and then the Teatro Regio in Parma. It is presented here for the first time in French.
Wishing to shed light on the sometimes difficult daily lives of certain children, the Opéra de Lausanne is delighted to offer 300 seats to several associations in the canton of Vaud for the performance of Pinocchio on Saturday 8 April 2023.
Music by Gloria Bruni
Orchestration by Lauro Ferrarini
Libretto by Ursel Scheffler
French version by Mathias Constantin and Antoine Schneider
Spanish-American conductor Francois López-Ferrer is currently conductor-in-residence at the Paris Opera Academy. He has garnered international attention after a critically acclaimed debut at the Verbier Festival in 2018, where he replaced Iván Fischer in a program shared with Sir Simon Rattle and Gábor Takács-Nagy. Recent and upcoming highlights for François López- Ferrer include debuts with the Los Angeles and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras, the Spanish National Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Galicia, Bern, Navarra, and Castilla y León, the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Spanish Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Valencia. He is a Dudamel Fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for the 2021/22 season and since 2019 has been Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the May Festival. He is featured in the 2022 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and previously served as Associate Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Chile.
Anne Sophie Petit holds a Master’s degree as a soloist from the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, in Stephan MacLeod’s class. She is a Young Talent of the Académie Musicale Philippe Jaroussky in 2019/20, a laureate of the Royaumont Foundation and a member of the Studio de l’Opéra de Lyon (2020/21). She won the Geneva Mahler Competition in 2020 along with pianist Marcell Vigh. She made her stage debut at the Opéra de Lausanne in 2017 as Musetta (La bohème). She has performed on stages such as the Opéra de Rouen, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, where she made her debut as Queen of the Night. She has collaborated with ensembles such as Gli Angeli Genève, Les Ambassadeurs – La Grande Ecurie, Le Concert de la Loge, the Orchestre du XVIIIe Siècle and the Ensemble Correspondance.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La bohème (2017), Cendrillon (2018), Les Chevaliers de la Table ronde (Route Lyrique 2019) and Pinocchio (2023).
Director, actor, teacher, artistic director of the company Les Célébrants, Cédric Dorier graduated from the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Lausanne in 2001. In parallel to his work as an actor, which has led him to perform in Switzerland, France, Belgium and Quebec, he became interested in directing very early on. Assistant to Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser in both theater and opera, he also works with Philippe Mentha, Philippe Sireuil and Jean- Yves Ruf. With Les Célébrants, he has directed several theatrical productions at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, the Théâtre Kléber-Méleau, the Théâtre de Carouge, the Théâtre Oriental-Vevey, the Théâtre des Martyrs in Brussels, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and the Usine-C in Montreal. In opera, he directed his first operatic work in 2012, The Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janácek for the Atelier lyrique of the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne at the Crochetan. For the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève follow Il Giasone by Cavalli, La Passione di Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo by Caldara, Costanza e Fortezza by Fux. In 2016, he created at the Fribourg Opera Orlando Paladino by Haydn, in co-production with the Opéra de Lausanne in 2017.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Orlando Paladino (2017)
Philippe Cantor began his career as a singer with early music ensembles such as the Ensemble Clément Janequin, Les Arts Florissants and La Grande Écurie & La Chambre du Roy. Winner of the Rennes Competition for his performance as Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), he has performed roles as varied as Pimpinone, Leporello (Don Giovanni), Mamma Agata (Le convenienze teatrali), Harasta (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Sweeney Todd. He is also passionate about chamber music (collaborating with Les Solistes de Lyon – Bernard Tétu, the Debussy Quartet, and the Ensemble TM+) and recital. In March 2021, the world premiere recording of Auguste Morel’s unpublished melodies was released by Forlane.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: La Fille de Madame Angot (2010).
French soprano Nuada Le Drève studied with Frédéric Gindraux and Jean-Philippe Clerc at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne and with Rainer Trost at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. She perfected her skills in master classes given by Jennifer Larmore, Véronique Gens, Alexia Cousin, Hedwig Fassbender, Marie-Claude Chappuis, Matthias Lademann and Stéphane McLeod. She won an award from the Centre français de promotion lyrique in 2019 and the Prix Jeune Talent at the Béziers International Competition in 2022. During the 2022/23 season, she is the Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Pierre Bleuse in Sion and La Fiancée in Stravinsky’s Les Noces conducted by Daniel Reuss.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Pinocchio (2023).
The young Belgian dramatic soprano is currently pursuing her Master’s studies at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, in the class of Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet. At the same time, she is pursuing a specialized Master’s degree in contemporary music at the Kunstuniversität Graz, where she is working with Holger Falk and Anna Sushon. In 2018, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where she worked with Ewa Wolak, Thomas Quasthoff, Wolfram Rieger and Julia Varady. She is also passionate about the Lieder and Melodie repertoire. She was a finalist at the Helmut Deutsch International Art Song Competition, the Gustav Mahler Competition in Geneva and received the Gérard Souzay prize for French melody at the Joy In Singing International Art Song competition in New York. She made her debut at the Musikverein in Vienna in December 2022, where she performed Alberto Ginastera’s Cantata para América mágica under the direction of Gottfried Rabl. In May 2023, she will make her debut with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne in Alban Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder.
Valentine Dubus began studying music at a very young age by taking up the cello. She was soon attracted to choral singing, which she practiced under the direction of Elisabeth Renault at the Orleans Conservatory. At 15, she decided to devote herself to opera singing and joined Corinne Sertillanges’ class at the Orleans CRD, as well as the Orleans Symphonic Choir, which allowed her to learn about the major pieces of the choral repertoire. In 2018, after obtaining her first prize in advanced studies, and with a wealth of projects under the direction of Jean-Marc Cocherau, Marius Stieghorst and Clément Joubert, she entered the Haute école de musique de Lausanne, where she chose to work with Leontina Vaduva. She studied choral conducting with Romain Mayor and Dominique Tille. Since 2022, she has been a frequent singer with the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, as well as with the Opéra de Lausanne Choir. During her career, Valentine Dubus has had the opportunity to perform a wide range of operatic roles, from Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) or Romeo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) to Mother Marie de l’Incarnation (Dialogues des Carmélites), which she sang in 2015 under the baton of Clément Joubert, as well as Dorabella (Così fan tutte), for which she will be the understudy in the HEMU’s production in summer 2021.
Born in Roanne, Baptiste Bonfante grew up in Provence, his family’s region of origin. He began his studies with piano and modern music singing at the Conservatoire communal d’Orange. After spending five years in the musical comedy class of the institution, he began in 2016 to study opera singing at the Regional Conservatory of Lyon, in the class of Claire Marbot. He has the opportunity to perform at the Teatro Baretti in Turin and at the University of Minnesota. In parallel to his musical career, he studied Italian culture and literature at the Université Jean Moulin de Lyon and obtained his degree in 2019. He then joined the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in the class of Frédéric Gindraux. In February 2020, he takes part as baritone soloist in the creation of the oratorio Mary Magdalen in the Garden Dweller by Chris Brubeck at the Théâtre Équilibre in Fribourg. He has the opportunity to perform regularly with the Opéra de Lausanne Choir. In May 2023, he will perform with the pianist Kaoruko Shima in concerts based on the melody and lied repertoire.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Doña Francisquita (2020)
Born in Lausanne, Romain Favre started playing music with the violin at the age of six. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2019 at the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in the class of Gyula Stuller. In parallel to his activity as a violinist, his passion for vocal art pushed him to study opera singing. In 2020, he was admitted to the Master of Singing program in Brigitte Balleys’ class. During his studies, he also received advice from Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Edwin Crossley-Mercer, as well as from director Christof Loy and conductor John Fiore. As a member of the Opéra de Lausanne Choir and the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne, he works regularly with renowned conductors such as John Nelson, Diego Fasolis, Daniel Reuss and Christophe Rousset. He performs as a soloist at the Rosey Concert Hall and at the Grange au Lac in Evian under the batons of Pieter-Jelle de Boer and Kaspar Zehnder. In November 2023, he will play Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Opéra du Rhône.
Born in 1969, Catherine Fender is a choral conductor, voice and choral conducting teacher, composer and arranger. Alsatian, she studied piano, organ, singing and especially choral conducting, first with Florent Stroesser in Strasbourg, then Pierre Cao in Luxembourg. She broadened her horizons and deepened her knowledge of the profession by working with Hans-Michael Beuerle in Germany, Raphaël Immoos in Switzerland, as well as by participating in training courses and workshops with Michel-Marc Gervais, Frieder Bernius, Gunnar Eriksson, Eric Ericcson and Michel Corboz, to name but a few. She has initiated and trained many young choral conductors who are now active in France, in the Rhine triangle and internationally. She will join the committee of the French Institute of Choral Art in 2021. Holder of a certificate of aptitude for choral conducting, she has taught choral singing and choral conducting at the Conservatories of Strasbourg and Colmar, at the University of Strasbourg (in particular at the Centre de formation de musiciens intervenants). She is a founding member of the Choeur 3 academy (France-Germany-Switzerland) and regularly teaches master classes. She is a regular lecturer (choral conducting) at the Basel University of Music. She took over the direction of the Lausanne School of Music Choir in August 2020.
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.
Born in 1969, Catherine Fender is a choral conductor, voice and choral conducting teacher, composer and arranger. Alsatian, she studied piano, organ, singing and especially choral conducting, first with Florent Stroesser in Strasbourg, then Pierre Cao in Luxembourg. She broadened her horizons and deepened her knowledge of the profession by working with Hans-Michael Beuerle in Germany, Raphaël Immoos in Switzerland, as well as by participating in training courses and workshops with Michel-Marc Gervais, Frieder Bernius, Gunnar Eriksson, Eric Ericcson and Michel Corboz, to name but a few. She has initiated and trained many young choral conductors who are now active in France, in the Rhine triangle and internationally. She will join the committee of the French Institute of Choral Art in 2021. Holder of a certificate of aptitude for choral conducting, she has taught choral singing and choral conducting at the Conservatories of Strasbourg and Colmar, at the University of Strasbourg (in particular at the Centre de formation de musiciens intervenants). She is a founding member of the Choeur 3 academy (France-Germany-Switzerland) and regularly teaches master classes. She is a regular lecturer (choral conducting) at the Basel University of Music. She took over the direction of the Lausanne School of Music Choir in August 2020.
Set designer, Adrien Moretti likes to dialogue with different worlds. Thus, if theatrical scenography is the common thread of his career, he does not hesitate to confront other stakes of the setting in space. For ten years he designed the stages for the Montreux Jazz Festival, which allowed him to become familiar with the requirements of audio-visual production and forced him to imagine modular sets for groups of varying dimensions. In the same way, the experience of directing the workshops for the realization of the sets of two editions of the Fête des Vignerons (1999 and 2019) offers him an unusual playground. In the same state of mind, the world of opera interests him because of the interactions between the different trades that create a common project together. In parallel to these activities for directors or visual artists, he develops his own projects, where he brings together and develops his know-how. From the drawing to the model, from the raw material to the set, his workshop Midi XIII in Vevey is the ideal place that allows him to concretize ideas and sketches in the best conditions to explore new approaches.
At the Opera de Lausanne : Orlando paladino (2017).
A graduate of HEAD in Geneva in fashion design, Irène Schlatter works as a costume designer with various theater companies. She has collaborated with directors Julien George (Léonie est en avance, Le Moche, Le Legs / L’Épreuve, Mais qui sont ces gens ? Cendrillon, Un fil à la patte), Jérôme Richer (La Ville et les ombres, 7 Seconds / Si on s’écrase maintenant on meurt, Super Suisse, Intimité Data Storage, Haute Autriche, Tout ira bien, Nous sommes tous des pornstars), Omar Porras (L’Eveil du printemps, L’Histoire du soldat, La Visite de la vieille dame), Martine Corbat (King Kong Girl, Frida, Les Sentiments du prince Charles), Joan Mompart (Münchhausen ? The Threepenny Opera, Die Zauberflöte, Je préférerais mieux pas) and Cédric Dorier (Le Roi se meurt, Danse Delhi, Si ça va, bravo!, Odyssée, dernier chant). She has also designed costumes for dance shows under the direction of Manon Hotte and has recently worked in collaboration with dressmaker Laurence Stenzin-Durieux on the creation and realization of costumes for Yaacobi & Leidental under the direction of Dylan Ferreux at the Alchimic theater in Geneva.
Katrine Zingg is a qualified make-up artist, hairdresser and wigmaker (Maskenbildnerin) and has been practicing these three specialties since 1977. After having worked for some time at the Comédie-Française, she was hired at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, responsible for the responsible for the women soloists, from 1982 to 1991. In 1991, she opened her own workshop and has since worked as a freelance for both the theater and the cinema wigs, make-up, hairstyles, masks and special effects.
Christophe Forey has created the lighting for many theater, opera and dance shows. He regularly collaborates with directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier: Hamlet, Der Rosenkavalier, Pelléas et Mélisande, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Don Carlos at the Grand Théâtre de Genève; La Cenerentola, Il turco in Italia, Maria Stuarda at Covent Garden; Clari by Jacques Frommental Halévy, Gesu aldo by Marc-Antoine Dalbavie, Mosè in Egitto, Le Comte Ory and Otello by Rossini at the Opernhaus de Zurich ; Giulio Cesare by Handel, Norma by Bellini, Iphigénie en Tauride by Gluck, L’italiana in Algeri by Rossini at the Salzburg Festival, Giovanna d’Arco by Verdi at La Scala in Milan, La Dame de Pique with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Baden-Baden, and also Fidelio, Mazeppa, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Teseo by Handel, etc. He also works with Günther Krämer, Lucinda Childs (L’Orfeo, Songs From Before, OEdipus Rex, Le Mandarin merveilleux), Silviu Purcarete (Parsifal), Robert Gironès, Bruno Boëglin (French creation of Roberto Zucco by Bernard-Marie Koltès), Jean-Marc Bourg, Benjamin Dupé, Jean-Claude Berutti, Sidonie Rochon, Sarath Amarasingam, Vincent Huguet (Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Bilbao). For Cédric Dorier, he created the lights for The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček, Misterioso 119 by Koffi Kwahulé, Frères ennemis by Racine, Le Roi se meurt, Danse Dehli, Orlando paladino, as well as Odyssée, dernier chant by Jean-Pierre Siméon in October 2022 at the théâtre 2.21 in Lausanne.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1997), Leonore (1997), Le Nez (2001), La traviata (2003), Carmen (2005), L’Aiglon (2013) and Orlando paladino (2017).
Jean-Philippe Guilois entered the National School of the Paris Opera in 1997 and then joined the Rudra Béjart School, with which he participated in several shows and international tours. He made his first professional experience with the Compagnie Buissonnière in Parce que je t’aime, presented at the Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne. While multiplying his contracts as a dancer, he was introduced to the world of opera as a stage manager, and then became assistant director for La bohème, Nabucco, Carmen and Madame Butterfly at the Avenches Opera Festival, L’Aiglon and La Traviata at the Opéra de Marseille, Armide and Cendrillon at the Opéra de Nancy, Falstaff at the Opéra de Montpellier. Recently, he created the choreographies of My fair Lady at the Opéra de Marseille, Un ballo in maschera at the Opéra de Nancy and Tannhäuser at the Opéra national de Lyon. He currently devotes himself to the creation of choreographies, plays and stage productions.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Alcina (2011), My fair Lady (2015), La vie parisienne (2016), Don Giovanni (2017), Così fan tutte (2018), Les chevaliers de la Table ronde (Route Lyrique 2019), L’auberge du Cheval Blanc (2019) and Dédé (Route Lyrique 2021), My Fair Lady (2022) and Davel (2023)
Francesco Cesalli is passionate and curious, favoring encounters and experiences related to the world of images. After a federal maturity in Engelberg, in central Switzerland, he left for Paris to study cinema. After graduating from the Ecole supérieure de cinéastes et d’acteurs, he worked in the production of corporate films and cinematographic films before being hired by the RTS. Since then, he has directed documentaries and programs with a predilection for culture. Currently, he produces and directs “Caravane FM”. In parallel to his television career, he actively participates in audiovisual scenographic productions for dance, theater and exhibitions with more than thirty creations to his credit. Notably with the companies Un Air de Rien – Sandra Gaudin (for Le Vilain petit canard with Etienne Daho and Arnaud Valois, and Le Balcon by Jean Genet where he teamed up with the set designer Éric Soyer), 100 % Acrylique – Evelyne Castellino for Un discours, un discours, un discours ! in which he was on stage and video set designer. He has directed several independent projects for the cinema, including Suite nuptiale, a 35 mm fiction short film selected in several festivals and which received the jury prize at the Festival du film court francophone de Vaulx-en-Velin in 2002.