Critic's choice
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Opera
Greek National Opera : The seven deaths of Maria Callas september 24th - 29th
The Greek National Opera returns to the Stavros Niarchos Hall at the SNFCC to present a great international co-production on 24, 25, 26, 28 and 29 September 2021: the new ambitious operatic project of the priestess of performance art Marina Abramović for the absolute diva Maria Callas titled The Seven Deaths of Maria Callas. It is a co-production of the Greek National Opera, the Bavarian State Opera (Munich), the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra national de Paris and the Teatro di San Carlo (Naples).
As Callas’ stirring life story has always fascinated Marina Abramović, she decided to develop this operatic project, in which seven deaths are re-enacted in an exemplary fashion on the stage, based on the musical and scenic highlights that marked the respective operas – all of them arias that were immensely important to Maria Callas. In seven short films and together with Willem Dafoe, Marina Abramović will die seven times.
Apart from the widely-known arias of Bellini, Bizet, Donizetti, Puccini, and Verdi, composer Marko Nikodijević creates original music, through which he illustrates how Callas’ unconditional love for her art never allowed for a split between the person she was on and off stage.
The production is conducted by Yoel Gamzou and directed by Marina Abramović together with Lynsey Peisinger. Willem Dafoe is featured in the videos, and the stage is taken by Marina Abramović and GNO soloists Eleni Calenos, Cellia Costea, Vassiliki Karayanni, Elena Kelesidi, Chrysanthi Spitadi, Marilena Striftobola, Anna Stylianaki. With the Orchestra and Chorus of the GNO.
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Concert
The Lausanne Chamber Orchestra: Arvo Pärt - Tabula Rasa
On September 10th 2021 Warner Classics & Erato will release thistribute album to Estonian composer ArvoPärt, born in 1935. RecordedinNovember 2020 at the Salle Métropolein Lausanne, in the middle of the pandemic, it features seven pieces for violin and string orchestra written between 1978 and 2006, including Tabula rasa, performed live for the opening of season 2021-2022. As a bonus in thebooklet :an interviewwith Renaud Capuçonenlighteningthese worksand his own visionof Pärt’s repertoire.
This recordinaugurates Renaud Capuçon’s early days asartistic director of the OCL.He conducts and is soloist together with François Sochard, the OCL first solo violinand Guillaume Bellom at the piano.
“ ArvoPärt's work goes straight into me, but I find it soothing at the same time. There’s something about Pärt that invitesyou to meditate, take stock, no matter what faith you have. He’s obviously fervently Orthodox, that much is clear fromthe influence of Gregorian chant and plainsong. But the emotion he brings out seems universal to me. Trulyuniversal. »
Renaud Capuçon
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Festival
Festival de l'Imaginaire 2021
Masters of Afro-Cuban rituals and of the lila gnawa, virtuosos of the gypsy trumpet and of the Hindustani violin, great voices of the Corsican and Breton polyphonies, mystical singer from Ethiopia ... From September 24 to December 11, the Festival de l'Imaginaire celebrates cultural diversity, in Paris and throughout France.