Marianne Crebassa

Le jeune Fantasio a perdu le goût de la vie, il rêve de changer de peau. Justement, le bouffon du roi vient de mourir : pourquoi ne pas le remplacer ? Or personne n’aimait plus le défunt que la princesse Elsbeth, promise à une désolante union politique. Le nouveau bouffon va amener la princesse à écouter son coeur. Jusqu’où se laissera-t-elle séduire ? En 2017, en pleine rénovation de l’Opéra Comique, Laurent Campellone et Thomas Jolly réanimaient ce joyau oublié d’Offenbach et Musset, au Châtelet.

How do we live together in an age of conflict? How do you heal a divided and angry people? In their 2017 production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Peter Sellars and Teodor Currentzis examine these questions through the story of a warrior-emperor who brings peace to his divided land and pardons his own would-be assassins. Written under a time crunch (legend has it that it was written in only 18 days, although it is likely an exaggeration) during the last year of Mozart’s life, the opera is based on a libretto written more than half a century earlier by Pietro Metastasio. It was commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and received its first public performance at the Estates Theatre in Prague on September 6, 1791.

The Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Alla Scala conducted by Marc Minikowski; Teatro alla Scala, Milan, March 2015

Filmed production of the 2016 Scala production of the famous opera.

Amour, the messenger of the gods, tells Orpheus that he may descend to the underworld and return with Eurydice. His singing has the power to appease the Furies and animate the blessed Shadows. Yet, his voice cannot reassure Eurydice who despairs of the feigned indifference of Orpheus, put to the test by Jupiter. Raphaël Pichon conducts the opera of operas and Aurélien Bory displays the giddiness of the mental and supernatural spaces traveled by Orpheus and beyond. Marianne Crebassa plays a new breeches role with Hélène Guilmette (Hélène in Le Timbre d’argent) and Lea Desandre (the title role in Alcione).

Divested of its traditional attributes – glass slipper and pumpkin carriage – and dominated by a tyrannical stepfather instead of a cruel stepmother, Rossini’s la Cenerentola plays with these most conventional of fairy‑tale characters. Nonetheless Cinderella lives in a closed world devoid of tenderness and under the yoke of the tormentor whom she protects. Deep beneath her goodness smoulders a fire that her encounter with the prince will set free… Guillaume Gallienne subtly highlights the halftones of this dramma giocoso, somewhere between opera buffa and opera seria, and ranging from sombre melancholy to the burlesque.

Né en 1819 en Allemagne, le jeune Jacob apprend le violoncelle en cachette de son père, chantre de la synagogue de Cologne. Cette petite rébellion, première d'une longue série, réussit au jeune virtuose, qui se découvre, à 13 ans, des dons de compositeur. La Prusse offrant peu d'opportunités aux juifs, Offenbach père veut que son fils fasse carrière à Paris. Subjugué par l'animation de la capitale française qu'il restituera plus tard dans La vie parisienne, Jacob s'y installe dès 1833 et se rebaptise vite "Jacques". Après un bref passage au Conservatoire, il devient violoncelliste à l'Opéra-Comique. En 1858, il lance triomphalement le genre de l'opérette avec l'ébouriffant Orphée aux enfers, attaque en règle contre l'académisme. Malgré ce succès, Offenbach, tour à tour honni et applaudi, subira toute sa vie un violent ostracisme, rejet qui s'intensifie durant la guerre de 1870, époque où il est traité d'espion par les Français et de traître par les Allemands.

This release from Erato consists of highlights from the live concert of April 15, 2017 in the city of Strasbourg in eastern France. A magnificent cast of singers, predominantly Francophone, assembled under the baton of John Nelson, an acknowledged master of Berlioz’s music who has conducted Les Troyens more frequently than anyone else over a period of more than 40 years; he made his name with the piece when he led performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1974 and enjoyed great acclaim for a production at the Frankfurt Opera shortly before the Strasbourg concerts.

“Nothing is harder to put on stage than lightness. And humor is the sharpest weapon of the desperate. That is why it is an obligation, indeed a must, to enjoy this Figaro by Jürgen Flimm at the Staatsoper to the fullest.“ (ARD Radio) This production of “Le nozze di Figaro” is directed by the former artistic director of the Staatsoper Berlin, Jürgen Flimm, who characterizes it as follows: “Figaro is by far the best work ever devised for the stage; it combines everything that moves the human heart and mind – forlorn hope, pleasantry, satire, profound significance, also much ado about nothing and vain amours.”

À Salzbourg, Christof Loy met en scène le plus marivaudien des opéras de Mozart. Une œuvre dirigée par Joana Mallwitz, première femme à tenir la baguette d’un opéra au sein du prestigieux festival depuis sa création. Deux jeunes soldats, Guglielmo et Ferrando, fiancés à deux sœurs, Fiordigili et Dorabella, sont mis au défi par le cynique Don Alfonso, célibataire d'âge mûr. Il parie 100 sequins avec les deux amoureux qu'il parviendra à leur prouver l'infidélité de leurs belles. Guglielmo et Ferrando, acceptant de se prêter à son jeu, feignent donc de partir au régiment pour revenir, déguisés, courtiser chacun la fiancée de l'autre.

Picture a day like this recounts the story of a woman bereft at the loss of her baby, who is told that she has a chance to restore her infant to life: "Find one happy person in this world and cut one button from their sleeve. Do it before night and your child will live." After a series of initially promising encounters end in disappointment, can she pull off the miracle she needs? Find out in this fable about human nature, a tale of self-discovery where the flow of music—performed by the excellent Mahler Chamber Orchestra, marking their 25th anniversary—follows the flow of life.

Conductor Joana Mallwitz makes her Met debut leading an extraordinary cast in Mozart’s comic masterpiece. Bass-baritone Michael Sumuel stars as the clever valet Figaro, opposite soprano Olga Kulchynska as his betrothed, the wily maid Susanna. Baritone Joshua Hopkins is the skirt-chasing Count, with soprano Federica Lombardi as his anguished wife and mezzo-soprano Marianne Crebassa as the adolescent page Cherubino. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.