Organization

Conductor

Conductor (+1)

Bertrand de Billy

Stage director

Stage director (+4)

Lydia Steier

Chorusmaster

Chorusmaster (+2)

ChinLien Wu

Set designer

Set designer (+1)

Etienne Pluss

Costume designer

Katharina Schlipf

Tenor (+3)

Michael Spyres

Licinius

Tenor (+4)

Julien Behr

Cinna

Baritone (+2)

Florent Mbia

Le chef des Aruspices

Mezzo-soprano (+3)

Eve-Maud Hubeaux

The Great Vestal

Orchestra

Orchestra of the Paris Opera

Chorus

Chorus of the Paris Opera

Lighting designer

Valerio Tiberi

Dramaturge

Dramaturge (+1)

Olaf A. Schmitt

A consul

Opéra Bastille

Bass (+2)

Jean Teitgen

Pontifex Maximus

Opéra National de Paris

Soprano

Elza van den Heever

Julia

Soprano (+1)

Elodie Hache

Bass (+4)

Nicolas Courjal

Julia, a priestess in the Temple of Vesta, is torn between her religious duties and her love for the Roman general Licinius. This is the crux of La Vestale, Gaspare Spontini’s opera, written at the beginning of the First Empire. Dedicated to Josephine and multiplying political allusions to Napoleon, the work was a triumph from its first performance at the Paris Opera in 1807. Admired by Berlioz, the score features brilliant orchestration and a sustained lyrical vocal style that heralds grand opera while remaining true to the legacy of Gluck. After remaining absent from the Paris Opera for almost 150 years, the return of this work in its original French version is an eagerly awaited event. Stage director Lydia Steier explores the themes of religious extremism and militaristic zeal: can love have any hope of surviving between these two ruthless extremes?

French