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When he premiered L’Île de Tulipatan on 30 September 1868 on “his” stage at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Jacques Offenbach was at the height of his fame and art. The years prior to the Franco-Prussian unrest were a veritable creative firework display for him galvanised by the success of The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein whose librettist Jacques Halévy humorously summarised the perfect timing: “Bismarck is helping to double our income, this time it’s the war we’re laughing at, and the war is on our doorstep”. Offenbach went on to have one success after another, with Robinson Crusoe, Geneviève de Brabant, Le Château à Toto, and La Périchole in which the two central characters bear the flowery names of Octogène Romboïdal, grand seneschal, and Cacatois XXII, duke and supreme chief of the island. Afterwards, as is often the case with Offenbach, the (surface) laughter is not without a certain depth – in this case the question of sexual orientation on the threshold of adulthood, embodied by the “tomboyish” character of Hermosa, the grand seneschal’s daughter, and by the delicate and graceful behaviour of Prince Alexis, the duke’s son, which has prompted some commentators to consider the work as the first… homosexual operetta in history!
Created in 2010 with the help of the public authorities, the Lyrical Road from the Opéra de Lausanne continues a unique policy in French-speaking Switzerland of the professional integration of singers and instrumentalists who have graduated from the region’s universities of music, accompanied by performance technicians at the end of their apprenticeship. This unique operation in Switzerland of lyrical decentralisation allows opera lovers to discover the work of a great institution such as the Opéra de Lausanne in a family setting and in a summer environment.
Originally from Marseille, Rémi Ortega began his vocal studies at the Conservatoire de région de sa ville, in the class of Claude Méloni, then joined the Haute école de musique de Lausanne in the class of Jörg Durmuller, where he attended master classes with Alain Garichot, Laurent Pillot, Yvonne Naef and John Fiore. In 2019, he won the Prix d’interprétation de l’instant lyrique at the Concours des Maîtres du Chant in Paris. He made his stage debut in the role of the Corporal in La Fille du régiment in Marseille under the direction of Bruno Conti, then in the roles of the innkeeper Pasek and the Mosquito in The Cunning Little Vixen in Monthey, under the baton of Ivan Törzs. Later, he will sing the title role in Le nozze di Figaro conducted by Leonardo García Alarcón, Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri conducted by Amaury Du Closel, as well as Emperor Chang in Das Land des Lächelns by Léhar.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: The White Horse Inn (2021)
Guillaume Paire studied at the Haute École de Musique de Genève in the class of Gilles Cachemaille and then perfected his skills with Sherman Lowe in Venice. He joined the Academy of the Festival of Aix en Provence and the Rencontres Lyriques de Genève. Member of the Rouen Opera Company from 2010 to 2012, he is Papageno in the production of William Kentridge. He made his debut at La Monnaie in Brussels as the Gendarme in Les Mamelles de Tirésias. Recently, Guillaume Paire presented his first musical one-man show “Le Blues du Perroquet” at the Saint-Etienne Opera and played Peter in Hänsel und Gretel produced by Les Variétés Lyriques.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Les mamelles de Tirésias (2016).
Trained by 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 numerous 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), Pâris (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 led him to perform on 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 (2019), La belle Hélène (2019), Le petit chaperon rouge (2021).
Born in Marseille, Gilles Rico studied music and philosophy before taking a doctorate in medieval philosophy at Oxford University. In parallel to his academic career, he turned to opera directing, first working as an assistant for various European opera houses and festivals. He has collaborated with directors such as Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, Joël Pommerat, Tom Cairns, Dmitri Tcherniakov, Jérôme Deschamps, Andreas Homoki, David McVicar, Damiano Michieletto, Robert Carsen, James Gray and Katie Mitchell. In 2016, Gilles Rico directed the world premiere of Maria Republica by François Paris at Angers-Nantes Opéra, which received the Prix de la Critique 2016. He also directed Un dîner avec Jacques, a show based on Offenbach produced by the Opéra-Comique and the Musée d’Orsay, which was then taken on tour in France. He directed the participatory opera Tistou les pouces verts by Henri Sauguet at the Opéra de Rouen, then staged Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Philharmonie de Paris. Recently, he directed Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon at the Opéra de Lausanne and the participatory opera Les petites Noces after Mozart at the Rouen Opera, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and on tour in France. As a librettist, Gilles Rico wrote the libretto of La Princesse Légère by Violetta Cruz, a commission from the Opéra Comique and the Opéra de Lille, and the libretto of the chamber opera Les rois mages by Fabian Panisello, which he also directed in Madrid and Nice. Among his projects are the revival of Les Rois mages at the Dubai Expo, the staging of Benatzsky’s L’Auberge du Cheval Blanc at the Opéra de Lausanne, the world premiere of Zad Moultaka’s Hémon at the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg and the staging of Don Giovanni at the Mozartwoche in Salzburg.
At the Opéra de Lausanne: Cendrillon , Pauline Viardot (2018) et re-staging of Le Nozze di Figaro (2021).