Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège | News Music & Opera

At the Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège, there’s no stopping halfway!

admin_mowp — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:27:09 +0000

Last June, a press release from the Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège announced the renewal of Stefano Pace’s mandate as General Director of the Opera for a period of five years. Today, it is Giampaolo Bisanti’s turn to make the news. The mandate of the Music Director, the brilliant 53-year-old Italian conductor, has been extended until 2031.

About him, Stefano Pace states in the release: “His exacting standards, his sense of theatre, his musical generosity and his constant commitment are major assets for our institution, and make him a privileged partner.”

It is indeed true that the understanding between the two men seems perfect. Together, they are building a bold programme that is reshaping the operatic offering in Liège. Several great masterpieces that had never before been staged at the Théâtre Royal have finally been presented, to the great delight of Belgian and international music lovers.

This programming has also enabled the conductor to broaden his repertoire, as with the Tristan und Isolde adventure. This masterpiece, conducted by the maestro for the first time, also saw soprano Lianna Haroutounian’s role debut as Isolde.

The 2025–2026 season, faithful to the spirit of the grand repertoire, opens with a highly anticipated production: Gounod’s Faust, the great masterpiece of French opera, performed by a stellar cast including Nino Machaidze, John Osborn, Erwin Schrott and Markus Werba (from 12 September 2025), under the inspired direction of Giampaolo Bisanti, who thus launches his new season in Liège. He declares: “I am deeply honored by this renewal of my mandate, which moves me as much as it commits me. The Royal Opera of Wallonia-Liège has become a true artistic home for me, where I feel supported, inspired and stimulated with every production.”

Upcoming highlights include The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky in February–March 2026, and Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia in April!

To purchase your tickets for the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège now, click here!

To learn more about his latest news, click here.

Giampaolo Bisanti – c – Jonathan Berger & visuals by ORWL

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An Ondine can finally be seen in Liège!

admin_mowp — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 09:08:14 +0000

Rusalka will be on the bill at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège from 25 January to 4 February 2024 in a new production by Rodula Gaitanou that rectifies an oversight. For the very first time in its history, the ORW is programming Dvořák‘s superb and spellbinding masterpiece. The score will be conducted by the institution’s current music director Giampaolo Bisanti, with Corinne Winters and Anton Rositskiy in the lead roles.

Discover Rusalka at the Opéra Royal de Wallonne

© Opéra Royal de Wallonie Liège website

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Mozart kicks off Pace’s Liège season

admin_mowp — Tue, 05 Sep 2023 08:00:31 +0000

After the choices of his predecessor (who died prematurely) and the revivals after Covid, Stefano Pace, the enlightened director of the Opéra royal de Liège, inaugurates his first full programme with a masterpiece by Mozart from his youth. Idomeneo opens the series of eight new productions scheduled for this 2023-2024 season. The excellent conductor Fabio Biondi directs Jean-Louis Grinda’s production, with a cast that brings together established talent and young artists, on stage from 19 September 2023. An opera not to be missed!

Fabio Biondi (c) Simon Fowler / Warner Classics

Your tickets for Idomeneo here

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Vienna and Liège begin Dialogues

admin_mowp — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 08:00:25 +0000

Dialogues des Carmélites becomes a permanent fixture in the repertoire of major opera houses. Two new productions are expected in Vienna and Liège. Francis Poulenc‘s great masterpiece, which was last performed at the Vienna State Opera in 1964, returns from 21 May 2023, this time with a new production by Magdalena Fuchsberger in which Sabine Devieilhe is to be replaced by Nicole Car. At the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège from 21 June 2023, the role of Blanche is performed by the revelation Alexandra Marcellier in Marie Lambert-Le Bihan‘s production and conducted by Speranza Scappucci, whose return to Liège is expected.

Your tickets for Dialogues des Carmélites here

(c) Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

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No more Speranza in Liège but Giampaolo

admin_mowp — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 08:46:11 +0000

The brilliant conductor Speranza Scappucci did not wish to renew her mandate as musical director of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège. The institution has just announced the appointment of Maestro Giampaolo Bisanti. Originally from Milan, the Italian conductor admits to a predilection for the French repertoire and Italian opera, from Rossini to verismo.

More info / See Giampaolo Bisanti’s shows here

Photo : Giampaolo Bisanti (c) Le Soir.Be

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Ambroise Thomas’ other masterpiece: Mignon

admin_mowp — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 08:47:45 +0000

In Liège, it is already time to book your tickets for the highlight of the 2021-2022 season of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. As with Hamlet, Mignon, Ambroise Thomas’s other masterpiece, requires top-class performers. From 1st to 9th, April 2022, for her first visit to Liège, Stéphanie D’Oustrac is the ideal artist to perform as Goethe’s heroine. The soprano Jodie Devos and the tenor Philippe Talbot complete a cast that promises to be exemplary. Always inspired conductor Frédéric Chaslin conducts and Vincent Boussard directs.

Book your tickets for Mignon here.

Photo : Stéphanie D’Oustrac

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John Turturro, the new Rigoletto:

admin_mowp — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 08:32:54 +0000

From 3 to 13 March, Rigoletto, Verdi’s masterpiece directed by Daniel Oren, will be performed at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, in a new staging by John Turturro. The American actor, who is making his operatic debut, can count on an exceptional double cast. In the first cast, Enkhbat Amartuvshin performs as the title role alongside Jodie Devos, a perfect Gilda. Also noteworthy for Il Duca di Mantova is the presence of Iván Ayón Rivas, recent winner of the Operalia competition.

Book your tickets for Rigoletto here.

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2020-2021 is the season of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

admin_mowp — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 06:00:14 +0000

2020-2021 is the season of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège. The superb Opera House is celebrating its bicentennial with many events that should be booked as soon as possible (the subscribers in Liège being particularly assiduous).

The program features a Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet and Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment starring Jodie Devos, Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène directed by the delirious Michel Fau, La Traviata starring Patrizia Ciofi, Bohème with Angela Gheorghiu or some recitals by Jessica Pratt & Lawrence Brownlee, Juan Diego Flórez and a certain Jonas Kaufmann!

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The Great Leo Nucci as Macbeth at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège

admin_mowp — Thu, 03 May 2018 09:18:36 +0000

In his beautiful Opera House, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, General Director and stage director Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera presents from June 12, a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth directed by Mazzonis di Pralafera himself. By looking at the prestigious cast, we understand why. Great opera singer Leo Nucci performs as Macbeth !

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