« It is with great emotion that I introduce you to the very first season of my mandate. The Opéra Comique’s rich history, repertoire and artistic identity driven by passionate teams, all contribute to making the Salle Favart a key opera house in Europe.
Following Jérôme Deschamps and Olivier Mantei, I was keen on giving centre stage to the French repertoire while highlighting what the comic-opera genre owes to literature and poetic language. An academy will be launched in 2023 and, just like the Maîtrise Populaire, will be supported by our opera house’s programme. The Opéra Comique has always been a fertile institution for the emergence of young talents. Young people have a rightful place in our institution.
To reconnect with the theatres’ seasons, the new programme will run from January to June 2023 and the 2023-2024 season will be announced next March.
Semi-annual, this season remains generous with over 60 dates and 36 very diverse operatic performances, various concerts, seminars, not to mention off-site projects. You will recognise the long-awaited shows and great productions whose programming had been suspended during the health crisis. The latest production, Zémire et Azor by Gréty, shows my ambitions for the Opéra Comique: Revive a neglected or forgotten repertoire and show that our institution, thanks to its creating and performing artists, has always been at the heart of aesthetic and social modernity.
Herald of the future seasons, this semester will allow all audiences, families and students, novice and experienced amateurs, repertoire and new productions lovers to enjoy what my team and I have resolutely wanted to be an accessible and open-to-the-world season. The Opéra Comique was created 308 years ago and has since become common property, which we must cherish and share more than ever before. »
Louis Langrée, Director of the Opéra Comique
Louis Langrée © Chris Lee
