Dear spectators, dear loyal patrons of the Versailles Royal Opera,

I am delighted to send you our new programme, with over 100 performances to delight you throughout the year, in a repertoire ranging from early baroque with Stefano Landi, Monteverdi and Francesca Caccini, to Carmen and Fauré, not to mention Purcell, Lully, Charpentier and Mozart !

New productions are given star billing in this programme. They include Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the sublime Sonya Yoncheva, who will also be giving a Christmas concert at the Royal Chapel (a must!), Porpora’s Polifemo with Franco Fagioli as Primo Uomo, and indeed Galuppi’s L’Uomo femina, a fable of gender reversals staged by Agnès Jaoui, as well as the masterpieces of romanticism, with the original version of Carmen that dates back to the Bizet Year, and The Daughter of the Regiment by Donizetti, the zenith of bel canto, with the French Army Choir !

It will also see the return of such grand productions as Mozart’s Enchanted Flute in its unique French version, the exceptional David and Jonathas by Charpentier, which was premièred with great success in 2022 at the Royal Chapel, the festive Baroque Carnival created by Vincent Dumestre and Vivaldi’s La Senna Festeggiante, in the incredible setting of the Queen’s Theatre.

In concert, we have some of the rare works of the repertoire : Alcina by Francesca Caccini, the first opera written by a female composer, Ernelinde, Princess of Norway by Philidor and Story of the Adulterous Woman by Clérambault will be joined by masterpieces of the genre, such as Pygmalion by Rameau, Alcina by Handel, an Orfeo by both Monteverdi and another by Stefano Landi, and Handel’s monumental Solomon. And has anyone ever heard José de Torres’ Requiem for Louis I of Spain, king for 150 days, which will be performed exactly 300 years after its première in Madrid.

In this new programme, artists of all generations take to the stage of the Royal Opera : the singers Philippe Jaroussky, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Bruno de Sá, Sabine Devieilhe, Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian, Marie Lys, Lisette Oropesa, Gaëlle Arquez, Samuel Mariño; the conductors William Christie – who will celebrate his 80th birthday with two special concerts in this prestigious venue –, as well as John Eliot Gardiner, in attendance for 4 concerts, Hervé Niquet, Leonardo García Alarcón, Christophe Rousset (who continues his Lully cycle with Proserpine), Raphaël Pichon, Valentin Tournet, Gaétan Jarry, Stefan Plewniak, Victor Jacob, Stéphane Fuget, Théotime Langlois de Swarte, Jean-Baptise Nicolas, Justin Taylor, as well as the winners of the Royal Opera Academy, directed by Chloé de Guillebon.

The Royal Opera will continue its already famous Ring by Wagner with the troupe of the Théâtre National de la Sarre : in 2025, Siegfried will be presented under the direction of Sébastien Rouland, in what promises to be another extraordinary musical experience.

The programme at the Château de Versailles would not be complete without the sacred music concerts at the Royal Chapel : Handel’s Messiah, Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, Requiems by both Mozart and Brahms, Charpentier’s Midnight Mass and Bach’s Cantatas will all bring this incomparable building to life.

Over the course of this upcoming season, the Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal  will be given pride of place in the pit and at the Chapel, with over than 20 productions and more than 40 performances on the programme, not to mention the tours in France and abroad, often accompanied by the Choeur de l’Opéra Royal. What’s more, its musicians will be celebrating the Bicentenary of Johann Strauss with you, with a New Year’s Eve concert !

For the first time, the world’s most beautiful opera house will also be hosting Molière’s legendary L’Avare, played by Jérôme Deschamps and, after the triumph of 2023, will resume the Fabrice Luchini’s La Fontaine et le Confinement. You will be treated to several exceptional ballets : the powerful Marie-Antoinette by Thierry Malandain, the Solists of the Ballet of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, in a programme by Jerome Robbins, and the latest creation by Angelin Preljocaj, Requiem(s).