Seat selection on map [Lille Opera | 14.02.2026 - 18:00 | The Makropulos Case] - Opéra de Lille

Long ago, Elina Makropulos’s alchemist father tested an elixir of life on her. Now 337 years old, and performing as opera singer Emilia Marty, she becomes involved in an inheritance dispute. Though her flawless beauty and voice still turn heads, her only aim is to recover the formula for the elixir, whose effects are beginning to wane.
Leoš Janáček was himself getting on in years when he turned this 1922 science-fiction play into an opera about the conundrum of immortality. Throughout his life, he developed a singular musical style by transposing the natural melodies of speech into music.
In Kornél Mundruczó’s staging, Emilia Marty is far from the soulless monster rejected men believe her to be. Worn down by centuries of loss, she ultimately overcomes her fear of death.
Véronique Gens makes her debut in this captivating and complex role. American conductor Dennis Russell Davies, a tireless champion of modern music, is now principal conductor of the Brno Philharmonic – the city where Janáček spent most of his life.

Dennis Russell Davies musical director
Kornél Mundruczó staging

approx. 1 hr. 50 min. (no interval)
Sung in Czech with French and Dutch surtitles