Raphaël Pichon | News Music & Opera

With Ophélie, Stéphane Degout Breaks the Hearts of His French Admirers

admin_mowp — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 08:30:14 +0000

After a rich Fauré Year in 2024, celebrating the centenary of the famous composer’s passing, a major event is on the horizon.

The Requiem, an absolute masterpiece by Fauré and a cornerstone of Western musical literature, will be conducted by Raphaël Pichon at the helm of Ensemble Pygmalion during a European tour from May 11 to 20, 2025.

The conductor, currently one of the most sought-after on the international scene, and his breathtaking ensemble are highly anticipated in this work—especially with the exceptional cast Pichon has assembled. Baritone Stéphane Degout is undoubtedly one of the finest interpreters of Fauré’s Requiem, alongside soprano Sabine Devieilhe, whose crystalline timbre will shine in the Pie Jesu.

As a bonus, the conductor had the brilliant idea of bringing these two great French stars together for excerpts from Hamlet by Ambroise Thomas, following their immense success on the Opéra-Comique stage in 2022.

Unfortunately, French audiences who have not yet secured their tickets for this Requiem for Ophélie may be disappointed. The Auditorium de Bordeaux on May 15, 2025, and the Philharmonie de Paris on May 20 are already sold out! To avoid missing the event, they will have to rush for the last remaining seats in Vienna (Konzerthaus, May 17), Valencia (Palau de la Música), or Madrid (Teatro Real)—fingers crossed!

Book your tickets now, click here!

Stéphane Degout & Sabine Devieilhe – c – Anna Dabrowska et Jean-Baptiste Millot

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Voltaire and Rameau Lose Their Hair at the Comique!

admin_mowp — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 09:52:25 +0000

Since this summer, music lovers have known that Voltaire aspired to provide Rameau with an opera libretto about Samson, the well-known biblical figure famous for his complicated history with the temptress Delilah, who cut his hair. Unfortunately, royal censorship refused to allow this sacred story to be staged in an opera (something Saint-Saëns would achieve years later with the success we all recognize). Rameau, who had already begun composing the music, was forced to abandon his opera and later repurposed his score in other works.

Voltaire is said to have told the composer: “I propose that we start a revolution together, for opera today has lost itself in the corridors of entertainment. It must allow us to read the world, to ask great questions.”

For Raphaël Pichon, the reason for the censorship is encapsulated in the final verses of Act III: “People, rise up. People, awaken. People, break your chains. Fight for your freedom.” On July 4, 2024, at the Théâtre de l’Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence (and not on July 14, the day of the storming of the Bastille), the brilliant conductor Raphaël Pichon unearthed a score that he had completely reworked for the world premiere of this Samson by Jean-Philippe Rameau, set to a libretto by Voltaire.

After its great critical and public success, Claus Guth’s production is now scheduled in Paris at the Opéra-Comique from March 17 to 23, 2025. While Jarrett Ott reprises his role as Samson from Aix, the Opéra-Comique presents a refreshed cast, with Ana Maria Labin as the new Delilah. She joins Julie Roset as Timna and Mirco Palazzi as Achisch, alongside the young and immensely talented singers Camille Chopin and Laurence Kilsby.

The Opéra-Comique has no intention of touching one hair on Raphaël Pichon, whose dynamism as a conductor has worked wonders more than once in this ideal acoustic setting. Let us recall the successes of Orphée et Eurydice by Gluck, Ercole Amante by Cavalli, Hippolyte et Aricie by Rameau, Fidelio by Beethoven, and Lakmé by Delibes, as well as Miranda, a pasticcio based on a work by Purcell, and Un Autre Voyage, inspired by Schubert’s operas— all conducted masterfully by Raphaël Pichon, a regular at the house!

To go seeing Raphaël Pichon conducting, click here !

Opera Comique & Raphaël Pichon – c – Stefan Brion & Piergab

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Raphaël Pichon embarks on un Autre voyage

admin_mowp — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 09:00:33 +0000

Raphaël Pichon is a conductor who likes to play with scores. After the success of Miranda (a pasticcio based on a work by Purcell), the Opéra Comique entrusted him with a new production based on excerpts from Schubert’s operas. XWith these pieces put together, director Silvia Costa has built a production in which Stéphane Degout and Siobhan Stagg share the bill from 1 to 11 February 2024. The conductor has not finished with his reconstructions, however, as this summer he will be back at the Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence for Samson, a free creation based on a lost opera by Rameau (4-18 July 2024).

Discover Raphaël Pichon at the Opéra Comique

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Raphaël Pichon and his Ensemble Pygmalion on tour with “Libertà!”

admin_mowp — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 08:00:28 +0000

The brilliant baroque conductor Raphaël Pichon conducts the production of Cavalli’s Ercole Amante at the Paris’ Opéra-Comique and at the Opéra Royal de Versailles and then goes on tour with his Ensemble Pygmalion in an all-Mozart program called “Libertà!“.

Performances are secheduled at Toulouse’s La Halle Grains on December 16, 2019 or at the Philharmonie of Paris on December 17, 2019, also in Bordeaux, Nancy, Evian, Massy & Caen.

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