Igor Stravinsky/Francis Poulenc
LE ROSSIGNOL / LES MAMELLES DE TIRÉSIAS

Champs-Elysées Theatre, Oper Köln and Nice Côte d’Azur Opera co-production

Le Rossignol                                                                                                                                                                          
Opera in three acts.                                                                                                                                                                 
Libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Stepan Mitoussov after the fairy tale by Andersen  The Nightingale and the Emperor of China.
Premièred on 26 May 1914 at the Paris Opera.

Les Mamelles de Tirésias                                                                                                                                                 
Opera bouffe in two acts and a prologue                                                                                                        
Adaptation of the piece of the same name by  Guillaume Apollinaire                                                                                                   
Premièred on 3 June 1947 at the Opéra-Comique

An exceptional evening! Here we have two major masterpieces of the turn of the 20th century, brought together: Stravinsky's dreamlike and wonderful Le Rossignol, and Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias with their gently offbeat humour.
Liberally inspired by Andersen's tale, Stravinsky's Le Rossignol transports us to a mythical China, in which the Emperor – initially charmed by the nightingale's song – is one day seduced by the singing of a mechanical bird offered to him by Japanese emissaries. Angered, the nightingale leaves the court … But he does not forget the disloyal Emperor when he sees the latter threatened by death. This piece was premièred in Paris, in French, on the eve of the First World War … Juxtaposed with this fable on friendship and loyalty, Les Mamelles de Tirésias leads us from drama to comedy. Here, Poulenc sets to a music a play by Apollinaire considered scandalous in its time: the poet portrayed a woman, Thérèse, who resents the macho society in which she lives. And, as unexpected as it may seem, she is transformed into a man! A pochade packed with humour and lucidity, transcended by the always incredibly imaginative music of Poulenc at every turn. Two themes and two universes which have inspired Olivier Py, who directs the piece alongside the young conductor Lucie Leguay, whose love of French music is well known.

Show in French with surtitles in French and English.