Paris Opera Orchestra © E. Bauer
Paris Opera Orchestra
The Paris Opera Orchestra is one of France’s oldest orchestras. Its foundation dates back to Louis XIV’s creation of the Académie royale de Musique over three centuries ago. Composers such as Lully, Rameau, Gluck, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Verdi, Wagner, Gounod, Massenet, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, Stravinsky, Roussel, Poulenc and Messiaen wrote some of their masterpieces for this orchestra. Its 174 musicians perform at the Palais Garnier, Opéra Bastille and beyond. Their lyrical and choreographic repertoire has never ceased to expand, and today they occupy a leading position in French and international musical life. Over nearly thirty years, they have worked with conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Georges Prêtre, Zubin Mehta, Christoph von Dohnányi, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Pierre Boulez, Semyon Bychkov, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Gustavo Dudamel…
Exceptional moments have marked this journey: the premiere of the complete version of Lulu with Pierre Boulez, Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Le Chevalier à la rose conducted by Karl Böhm, Don Giovanni, Sir Georg Solti’s last Mozart production, in 1996, or the two Ring cycles conducted by Philippe Jordan… All experiences that have profoundly deepened the personality of an orchestra nourished by the most delicate and demanding scores in terms of interpretation. This personality is expressed in numerous recordings, which have earned the Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris recognition as one of the world’s leading orchestras. It is also particularly evident when its musicians perform in concert on the Opera’s stages or on international tours. Such symphonic concerts enable them to renew their relationship with some of the conductors who have led them in the pit. The musicians also cultivate their complicity through a chamber music season featuring masterpieces from repertoires past and present.