What will be shown at the Paris Opera in the 2024/25 season

General Director of the Paris Opera Alexandre Nef and artistic director of the ballet José Martinez announced plans for the new season and summed up the results of the past, which, judging by the figures, has become the most successful for the Paris Opera in the last six years. Tells Maria Sidelnikova.

When things are bad, they start with money; when things are good, they start with creative plans. Last year’s press conference began with a deficit of €9.6 million (see Kommersant on March 30, 2023), this year all talk about a profit of €2.3 million for the bumper year 2023 was neatly saved for the finale. There is something to be proud of. Ticket revenue amounted to €68 million with 93% occupancy of two halls, €12 million came from Opera Garnier tourists (1.2 million visitors to the Palais Garnier are also record numbers), €23.5 million came from patrons.

The opera program was read by Alexander Nef himself. After Gustavo Dudamel, the musical director of the Paris Opera, resigned last May (see Kommersant, May 26, 2023), Nef was left running the business for two. He was in no hurry to resolve the personnel issue, since his fate was not determined until recently: the contract expired in 2026. It was only in early March that President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the hard-working German intendant for a second term, until 2032, so now that the prospects are clear, the search for a music director should intensify.

In the new season 2024/25, Alexander Nef adheres to his chosen course for the French repertoire. The opening is scheduled for the premiere of the opera buffa “The Robbers” by Jacques Offenbach, directed by Barry Koski. The Australian director, a regular at the Opera, is confident that there is no better antidote to the misfortunes in our troubled world than Offenbach. Conductor: Stefano Montanari. The main roles will be performed by opera francophones Marcel Beckmann, Marie Perbost, Rodolphe Briand. The season will end with the same “dose of happiness”, only in the summer Michel Spotti will take over the conductor’s stand.

American Peter Sellars and Teodor Currentzis with their musicians from Orchestra Utopia will undertake to answer the main question of Rameau’s tragedy “Castor and Pollux” – how to stop the war. Currentzis’ return to Opera Bastille did not go unnoticed. When asked to comment, Alexander Nef responded cautiously: “Our work is preserving heritage and creating works. I think it’s right to invite a famous conductor in such a difficult context, both for us and for him. Moreover, Peter Sellers and Teodor Currentzis have almost fifteen years of cooperation.” The general director also added that the policy of the Paris Opera regarding artists who continue to work in Russia remains unchanged: no one is forcing anyone to speak out against it, but for those who are in favor, the doors are closed. Ildar Abdrazakov, previously stated in Don Quixote, found himself in such a situation.

Among the premieres, the commission of a new version of Debussy’s opera “Pelléas et Mélisande” to playwright and theater director Wajdi Mouawad, who is used to working with his own texts, is also intriguing. The musical director of the production is Antonello Manacorda.

“The Ring of the Nibelung”, directed by Calixto Bieito, finally had its moment after the Covid troubles that confused all plans. 2025 will begin with the long-awaited prologue, Das Rheingold, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado and Ludovic Tézier making his debut as Wotan. The Wagnerian cycle will stretch over three seasons and end with “Twilight of the Gods” in 2026.

A cycle, but this time with Italian roots, awaits French music lovers and with the Paris premiere of Pascal Dusapin’s “Voyage, Dante” based on the “Divine Comedy” directed by Klaus Guth – this is a co-production of the Opera with the festival in Aix-en-Provence. Following “The Journey,” they will perform “Gianni Schicchi,” the Dantean part of Puccini’s “Triptych,” directed by Christophe Loya with Hasmik Grigoryan, who last season was applauded from Bayreuth to Salzburg.

The artistic director of the ballet, Jose Martinez, took over the baton from the general director. The 2024/25 season is his first completely independent one in this position. “Homage to history, celebration of today and a look into the future” – this is how Martinez formulates his tasks, which, however, corresponded to any season of the last twenty years. The balance of classics and modernity in the ballet program is diplomatically maintained, risks are minimal – all choreographers are known and time-tested. There are no modern new ballets on pointe, which Martinez promised to make a priority, in the coming season. The artistic director mentioned that such large-scale premieres require more time. “It’s hard to do everything I want,” he admitted politely.

There are three world premieres, and they come with reservations. William Forsythe’s return to the Paris Opera after a ten-year break is indeed a sensation. But the premiere will be “Rearray” to the music of David Morrow – a duet he staged in London in 2011 for Sylvie Guillem and Nicolas Le Riche, which the 74-year-old master will adapt to the troupe’s artists. In Paris, Forsythe chose the etiquette Ludmila Pagliero, he knows her well from her work in Blake Works I (2016), and the “plot” of Tucker Costa, one of the most exciting contemporary artists in the Opera. The second item of the season-opening evening is the Forsythe hit “Blake Works I” by James Blake. The trio is completed by the Parisian premiere of the ballet “Impasse” (“Impossible Situation”) by Johan Inger; the Swedish choreographer will work with artists of the Paris Opera for the first time.

The second premiere is also part of the trio. José Martinez decided to bring back “The Faun” (2021) directed by Sharon Eyal, and she volunteered to also stage “OCD Love” (2015) – her main hit – on pointe. To minimize risks, Martinez completes the trifecta with a sure-fire option – Mats Ek’s “The Apartment”, a legendary performance created 25 years ago and not returned to the stage since 2012.

And finally, a full-fledged premiere for the entire evening will be the work of the Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter – this is not his first time working at the Opera, but he has never before started from scratch on his dancers. The secrets of a dark cabaret, scorching red scenery, the energetic Schechter and fifteen artists of the Paris Opera troupe will be on fire at the end of the season.

From the classical repertoire, a new ballet for Parisians will be “Sylvia” by Léo Delibes, choreographed by Manuel Legris. The former étoile of the Opera, and now the artistic director of the La Scala ballet troupe, will take this witty ballet pastoral to his homeland and to his native troupe. Jose Martinez sees in choreographer Legree the guarantor of the French school and the successor of Nureyev’s line. But if this season is rich in classics in Nureyev’s edition, then in the coming one there will only be Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” – it has not been seen in Paris for 12 years. After a ten-year hiatus, Pierre Lacotte’s Paquita will also return, but it will return not to Opera Garnier – a scene so loved by the French restorer of ballet antiquity, who died last April – but will be shown for the first time at Opera Bastille. “Onegin” by John Cranko is an indispensable performance for saying goodbye to the stage. The next season will be the last for Laura Eke, the invisible étoile, the only protégé of the former director of the Opera’s ballet troupe, Benjamin Millepied, and Mathieu Gagnot, the long-lived étoile, the beautiful face of a whole generation.