Opera Lafayette

Les Fêtes de Thalie

May 03, 2024

Info / Tickets

Description

This fully staged production will be the modern premiere of Mouret's Les Fêtes de Thalie, an opéra-ballet which broke with serious French operas by putting contemporary characters on stage. Thalia, the muse of comedy, guides the spirit of the work, which looks at love through the eyes of three women -- La Fille (the girl), La Veuve Coquette (the coquettish widow) and La Femme (the wife), along with their companions.

 This opéra-ballet was originally performed at the end of Louis XIV’s life, and, though not patronized by the King and Madame de Maintenon, became an enormously popular spectacle which set the stage for future works such as Rameau's celebrated Platée.

Christophe Rousset will conduct. Claire van Kampen, artistic associate of the Globe theater in London and the creator of the Tony and Olivier-nominated play Farinelli and the King, will direct. Frequent van Kampen collaborator, Antonia Franceschi, will serve as choreographer, with students and alumni from New York’s Joffrey Ballet School Jazz & Contemporary Trainee Program. The young and diverse cast of American singers includes Opera Lafayette Artistic Associate Jonathan Woody, Angel Azzarra, Pascale Beaudin, Jean Bernard Cerin, Ah Young Hong, Patrick Kilbride, Matthew Newlin, Margot Rood and John Taylor Ward. Korneel Bernolet, harpsichordist and founder of Apotheosis Orchestra, will edit Opera Lafayette’s modern edition of Les Fêtes de Thalie and play continuo for the production.