Gala in Versailles - 21.09.2009

As a special honor - in my opinion - Magdalena is one of the performers in this very special Gala with Marc Minkowski. More details see below.

I suppose that hardly one of her fans will attend this evening. But we can listen and see the superb video from the Rameau performance on youtube recorded at the special event of 20 years of Les Musiciens du Louvre 18.12.2002.


Gala Evening - Reopening of the Royal Opera

The Opéra Royal de Versailles may well be the most beautiful opera house in the world. Long desired by Louis XIV and finally built a century later by order of Louis XV, the Opéra designed by the architect Gabriel was inaugurated in 1770 for the three most prestigious festivities organised for the Royal Wedding of Marie-Antoinette and the future Louis XVI: the wedding banquet, the full-dress ball and the opera performance. This magical opera house, the setting of the most splendid opera productions of the Ancien Régime, of the Gala Evening held in honour of Queen Victoria in the 19th century and of the prestigious reception organized for Queen Elizabeth II in 1957, has been given a new lease of life.

Like any other building, this peerless theatre with its legendary beauty did not emerge unscathed from the ravages of time. However, it is now emerging from a two and a half-year period of works costing 13 million euros that have restored the original width of the stage (14 meters) and the operating capacities of its old machinery.

The inauguration of an opera house – particularly a royal opera house – is a rare event and called for a Gala Evening. Marc Minkowski has conceived an exceptional concert for the occasion, on Monday 21 September. With his orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble, he will be accompanying the sublime Magdalena Kozena, the queen of mezzo-sopranos, in a programme designed as a tribute to Marie-Antoinette and the Opéra Royal de Versailles. Haydn and Gluck will have pride of place but the programme also promises many musical surprises.

A Gala Dinner will then be given in Versaille's most beautiful setting: the Hall of Mirrors. It has rarely been used for this honorific purpose and primarily for the reception of Heads of State. The return of the arts to the Opéra Royal will thus be magnified by the most rare and wonderful dinner that Versailles can offer, in this masterpiece of the Royal Apartments.

21 September 2009 – 8 pm

Concert at the Opéra Royal followed by an exceptional dinner in the Hall of Mirrors, evening dress, car parking in the Cour d'Honneur.

Mezzo soprano: Magdalena Kozena

Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble – Conductor: Marc Minkowski

This program can change

Special price: 1000 euros




Michael

The latest informations about the gala and the cast (without Magdalena):

[www.chateauversaillesspectacles.fr]

21 September 2009 – 8 pm

Opéra Royal - Hall of Mirrors

Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble – Conductor: Marc Minkowski


Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble - Conductor Marc Minkowski
Mireille Delunsch, soprano
Richard Croft, ténor
Bryn Terfel, baryton-basse

This program can change



Michael