In 1840, crowned with exceptional success, Donizetti gave his first opera in French in Paris: La Fille du régiment. King Louis-Philippe had just reopened the gates of Versailles and decided to create a museum dedicated to ‘all the glories of France’. Napoleon is more honoured there than Louis XIV, and France is preparing to welcome the return of the Emperor's ashes with fervour. In other words, patriotism was in full swing, and La Fille du régiment was perfectly in tune. Donizetti had a field day singing the unlikely love story between the vivandière Marie, who had become the regiment's adopted daughter, and the brave Tonio, who had saved the young woman and joined Napoleon's army: patriotic arias and choruses, an assault of bel canto and Tonio's famous aria, the ‘Everest of Lyric Art’ with its nine counter-utes!

The thousandth performance was given in Paris in 1914. During the December 1840 performances at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Lily Pons, after a stunning ‘Salut à la France’, sang La Marseillaise, which became a symbol of freedom in the midst of war. Virtuoso soloists Gwendoline Blondeel and Patrick Kabongo, accompanied by the Chœur de l'Armée française, will transport the Opéra Royal audience to the beating heart of the motherland!

Distribution

• Gwendoline Blondeel Marie
• Patrick Kabongo Tonio
• Jean-François Lapointe Sulpice
• Éléonore Pancrazi La Marquise de Berkenfield
• Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin Hortensius
• Flore Royer* La Duchesse de Crakentorp
• Attila Varga-Tóth* Un paysan, Un notaire
• Jérémie Delvert** Un caporal

Chœur de l’Armée française
Chœur et Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal

Gaëtan Jarry - Direction Jean-Romain Vesperini - Stage Manager Christian Lacroix - Costumes Roland Fontaine - Sets Christophe Chaupin - Lighting Claire Manjarres - Assistant Director Laurence Couture - Make-up and Hairstyling Julie Berce - Accessories