Schedule of events - Opéra de Lille

The Magic Flute is the work of a playful mind unbound by convention. With the help of a fairytale backdrop and radiant music, it exalts virtue and forgiveness through characters whose weaknesses and moments of heroism are common to all humans. Prince Tamino is tasked with rescuing Pamina, daughter of the Queen of the Night, who has been kidnapped by a tyrant. To help Tamino succeed, the Queen gives him a magic flute to protect him from any danger he may encounter. Accompanied by his new friend, Papageno the bird catcher, Tamino sets out on his adventure. He learns that Sarastro, who is holding Pamina captive, took her to save her from her mother’s evil ways. But who should he believe? How can Tamino tell the difference between truth and lie, friend and foe? For Mozart, the heart must always guide us! But before Tamino and Pamina can live happily ever after, they must overcome a series of obstacles and find their own path.
Since its premier in Berlin in 2012, the enchanting staging by Suzanne Andrade and Barrie Kosky has never ceased to amaze audiences of all ages across the globe. Embracing the extravagance that was dear to Mozart and Schikaneder, it surrounds the singers with a spectacular décor of animated images borrowed from 1920s silent film, German expressionism and British comedy. To infuse this unique experience in the world of opera with energy and whimsy, the young Italian prodigy Riccardo Bisatti, born in 2000, will conduct the Orchestre National de Lille and brilliant soloists who embody the new generation of Mozart.

Musical director Riccardo Bisatti
Staging Suzanne Andrade, Barrie Kosky

approx. 2 hr. 45 min. incl. interval
Sung in German with French and English surtitles

On her enchanted island, Alcina reigns supreme, beholden to none but her own pleasure. She bewitches men to keep them close, at least until she grows weary of them and turns them into animals or rocks. At least that’s what people say. Why else would a man give himself over to a powerful woman? Magic must be to blame.

Though Alcina’s world may be but an illusion, Händel’s sumptuous music embodies the true nature of human emotions. Behind the panache of baroque fantasy, the opera deftly sketches the portrait of a woman who uses all her power to attain her desires. But is the freedom to love as we please so dangerous that it can only exist on a distant island?

Stage director Ewelina Marciniak invites us to explore Alcina’s world — a place where anything is possible, where desire can blossom outside the accepted norms and the logic of possession. She also questions our ability to imagine the possibility of freedom, which is so frightening for some that they suspect it must be a ruse. The enchanting Karine Deshayes, four-time winner at the Victoires de la Musique Classique, plays the sorceress, guided by musical director and proud ambassador of the Handel repertoire, Emmanuelle Haïm.

Musical director Emmanuelle Haïm
Staging Ewelina Marciniak

Sung in Italian with French and English surtitles
Running time: approx. 3 hr. 30 min. icl. interval

When Earth is beyond repair, where will we go to survive? In this lyrical odyssey, four women astronauts set out on a nine-month journey to the planet Mars. Their mission: save humanity. But before they reach their destination, the expedition is taken over by a billionaire tech bro.

With its focus on the quirky details of life in zero gravity and its reflections on the absurdity of space travel, this new opera turns the Martian myth into a humorous meditation on isolation and the quest for meaning. In the ship, where the series Real Housewives is on a constant loop, tensions mount and relationships are tested.

Jenny Walshe is without a doubt one of the most imaginative and least conventional figures of the contemporary opera scene. Her charming language and biting wit have already won over vast audiences. MARS blends music, texts and gestures, as well as NASA recordings, archival images from former space programmes and clips from sci-fi films to create an immersive experience that is both surprising and joyful. A major hit as soon as it premiered, this operatic UFO is now in France for the first time. Get ready for take-off!

Musical director Elaine Kelly
Staging Tom Creed, Jennifer Walshe

Running time: approx. 2 hr. 10 min. incl. interval
Sung in English with French and English surtitles

María is born ‘one day when God was drunk’ in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires. Drawn by the city lights, she leads a tumultuous life in the rough parts of the capital. She eventually becomes a cabaret singer, enjoying success and men’s affections, until she’s rejected and marginalised once again. After her brutal death, she wanders the streets like a shadow, with no memory of her own past. Until one day she miraculously becomes pregnant…

Astor Piazzola, the unrivalled master of the bandoneon, breathed new life into Argentine tango in the 1960s by incorporating new rhythms and instruments. His sole opera is a manifesto for this tango nuevo, steeped in jazz and European classical music.

Giulia Giammona is an emerging figure in European musical theatre. Over the course of her career so far she has rediscovered surrealist women authors and explored feminist perspectives on mythology. Eschewing old-fashioned stereotypes, Giammona has cast women in all of the roles. She aims to restore the heroine’s story to her, to question the gendered codes of tango, and to condemn the social mechanisms that lead to the idealisation of women’s bodies and to sexist and sexual violence.

Musical director Nicolas Agullo
Staging Giulia Giammona

Sung and spoken in Spanish and French with French and English surtitles
Running time: approx. 1 hr. 45 min. (no interval)

Otello has conquered everything: military honours and Desdemona’s heart. Glowing with success, he arrives in Cyprus to assert the authority of the City of the Doges. But the rise of the African general fuels Iago’s racist contempt. Frustrated by his subordinate position, the lieutenant takes revenge on Otello by targeting his Achilles’ heel: the absolute love he bears for his wife. When Iago casts doubt on Desdemona’s fidelity, a cynical chain reaction is set in motion. Gradually, the admired man becomes the prisoner of a jealousy he can no longer control.

Alongside Aida and Falstaff, Otello is considered the pinnacle of Italian opera. In it, Verdi unfolds a true musical dramaturgy: beneath the sung words, the orchestra reveals the inner turmoil and conflicting forces that consume the protagonists.

In his productions, Árpád Schilling has spent the past two decades examining the social upheavals of our time, particularly the dynamics of radicalisation in Europe. He presents Otello as the tragedy of a love destroyed by discrimination. The stigmatising gaze cast upon the one perceived as a stranger unleashes such violence that the man ultimately becomes the monster projected onto him by society.

Musical director Dmitry Matvienko
Staging Árpád Schilling

Sung in Italian, with French and English surtitles
Running time: approx. 2 hr 40 min (including interval)