The Rake's Progress - Paris Events

Music director of English National Opera, Edward Gardner takes Eurostar across the channel to conduct this new production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress, directed at the Opéra national de Paris' Palais Garnier by Oliver Py.
First produced at Venice's La Fenice in 1951, The Rake's Progress was Stravinsky's only full-length opera. His neo-classical style adds 20th Century irony to the Haydn or Mozart-esque music, building on W H Auden and Chester Kallman's libretto which, in turn, was inspired by William Hogarth's early 18th century set of satirical engravings.

This new Paris production stars British tenor Toby Spence as Tom Rakewell, Laura Claycomb as his girlfriend Anne Trulove, René Schirrer as her father Trulove and Laurent Naouri as the devil's henchman Nick Shadow who takes young Tom under his wing. The action moves to London, where the cast includes Hilary Summers as Mother Goose, Jane Henschel as Baba The Turk, Ales Briscein as the auctioneer Sellem and Ugo Rabec as the Keeper of the Madhouse.

With one of the longest continuing operatic pedigrees in the world, the Opéra National de Paris - now housed in the modern Opéra Bastille as well as often returning to perform in the 1875 vintage Palais Garnier - can date its history back to 1669, when Robert Cambert and Abbé Pierre Perrin received Louis XIV's permission to stage opera. Subsequent important figures in Paris' operatic life include composers Lully, Rameau, Meyerbeer, Messiaen alongside lesser-known figures to modern audiences, such as Spontini, Hérold and Halévy.

The move to the new Opéra Bastille took place (admittedly amidst controversy) in 1990, but the company's two principal venues have allowed operatic life to flourish again in the 21st century. Since 2004 Gérard Mortier (previously intendant at the Salzburg Festival) has been director. When he retires in 2009, he is replaced by Nicolas Joel, when Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan becomes music director.