Bel canto enthusiasts will be particularly spoilt with five major operatic works from the lyrical repertoire.
In November, Andrea Chénier raises the curtain on opera in Nice. In January, we will revisit Mozart with Cosi Fan Tutte. In February, a co-production by the operas of Nice, Toulon, Marseille, and Avignon will present Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades to the audience.
In March, the spotlight is on baroque with Phaéton by Jean Baptiste Lully being performed for the first time in Nice. This opera was commissioned by King Louis XIV. The Sun King wanted to highlight, by using the legend of Helios’s son, the fate of Nicolas Fouquet, who was mostly guilty of attempting to rival him with Vaux le Vicomte.
Then in May, a great classic, yet always as moving, Lucia Di Lamermoor by Gaetano Donizetti, the last opera of the season takes place in the mists of Scotland while Nice awakens in spring. The ballet season will begin in September at the Verdure theater to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the choreographic company.
We are celebrating the centenary of the Victorine studios, and the ballet company will pay tribute to Kosma, to cinema, and a call for support for Notre Dame de Paris. This nod to cinema, which started in October, will continue in December.
In February, a pas de deux. In April, a creation Allegro Brillante, Oceana, and the ballet of Faust. To conclude the ballet season, we will gather in July at the Arènes de Cimiez with the tango.
The symphony orchestra, as every year, offers us engagements both at the opera and in various locations such as the churches of the Dominicans and Notre Dame de l’Assomption. Chamber music between the Le Royal hotel, the Lascaris palace, and the Marc Chagall museum.
The usual Sunday concerts where young audiences can take their first steps in an opera hall, first steps in music, for schoolchildren, everything is done to open the doors of the opera and musical discovery to children and teenagers.
It is clear that the 2019-2020 season is promising.
Thierry Jan.
