Pierre Cavassilas

La traviata in Paris

La traviata in Paris is a film-opera of Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata filmed live on television and worldwide, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, conceived and produced by Andrea Andermann in 2000. A Traviata that takes place live, with a television reporter who, amid the events of the day that took place in France on June 3, 2000, connects live to the scene of the action but at the time exactly a century earlier, in the Paris of June 3, 1900 (the setting of the opera is thus postdated from the original, which was conceived for the 1850s).

Jewels

Jewels, ballet in three parts choreographed by George Balanchine for the New York City Ballet, recorded in October / November 2005 at the Opéra National de Paris.

Katia Kabanova

This release captures a performance of the Leoš Janáček opera Katia Kabanova recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1998.

La traviata

The tragic tale of a Parisian courtesan who finds true love.

Les Contes d'Hoffmann

Live performance from the Opéra National de Lyon.

La Vie Parisienne

This 1991 production by the Lyon National Opera presents a welcome opportunity to revel in a uniquely Gallic confection rarely seen outside France. It's also a chance to enjoy one of Offenbach's most inventive, melodic scores in which the starring musical role and many of the best tunes go to the orchestra, here conducted by Jean-Yves Ossonce. This is no accident: the operetta was originally created for a company of actors who relied on pastiche and the composer's help to get them through their "numbers". Not so these singers, of course. As Metella, the languorous courtesan who is responsible for the unravelling debacle, Helene Delavault is in meltingly good voice for her show-stopping rondeau, "A minuit sonnant commence la fete". Her sparring suitors Gardefeu (Jean-Francois Sivadier) and, particularly, Bobinet (Jacques Verzier) combine marvellous visual comedy with fluid singing and there is some dazzling vocal work from the supporting cast. It's a long piece, but hugely enjoyable.

Alouqa or the Comedy of the Dead

Thanks to his gifts of clairvoyance, the son of a former servant of a noble family makes his fortune and buys the mansion where he spent his childhood. But he is obsessed by the memory of this house, because the owners were, one by one, victims of an evil spirit. With a troupe of actors, he attempts to reconstruct the dramatic scenes he witnessed.

L'aigle à deux têtes

A queen lives secluded in her chambers, mourning the loss of her husband on their wedding day ten years from then. Stanislas, a suicidal poet and anarchist, enters her apartments with the intent of killing her. When he appears, wounded, fleeing the guards, she is struck by his resemblance to the late king...