
In Benoît Jacquot’s production, Manet’s Olympia dominates the stage of the Opéra Bastille. In 1863, the painting caused a scandal: the prostitute awaits her client, her expression proud, her demeanour assured. Is this Violetta? Like Olympia, Verdi’s most celebrated heroine surrenders to the spectator just as she surrenders to love, going so far as to die on stage, a woman’s ultimate sacrifice for her lover. Or might it be the spectator who strips her bare and intrudes upon her privacy, in the image of this milieu of social voyeurism? Whatever the case, these two women regard us with defiance and subjugate those who cannot help but look at them.
Ermonela Jaho, Charles Castronovo, Ludovic Tézier, François Rougier, Cornelia Oncioiu

Rossini: La Cenerentola
2001

Sternenhoch
2019

La Traviata - Paris
2019

Monteverdi: L'incoronazione di Poppea
2012

Gluck: Orpheus & Eurydice @ Halle 47, Floirac
2023

Il club dei 27
2017

La Finta Giardiniera
2006

Theodora
2015

Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
2018

Positive
2022

Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor
2015

Aida - Arena di Verona
2013