Luca Francesconi : Trompe-la-mort
 16, 18, 25, 30 Mar 2017; 2, 5 Apr 2017 
In French, and surtitled in French, English
Opera in 2 acts, 120′
Libretto: Luca Francesconi, after ‘Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes’ by Honoré de Balzac
Paris, Palais Garnier
Opéra National de Paris
Conductor Susanna Mälkki
Director Guy Cassiers
Costumes Tim Van Steenbergen
Chorus master Alessandro Di Stefano
Dramaturge Erwin Jans
Vautrin/ Trompe-la-mort/ Jacques Collin Thomas Johannes Mayer
Esther Julie Fuchs
Lucien de Rubempré Cyrille Dubois
Le Baron de Nucingen Jean-Philippe Lafont
Asie Ildikó Komlósi
Eugène de Rastignac Philippe Talbot
La Comtesse de Sérizy Béatrice Uria Monzon
Clotilde de Grandlieu Chiara Skerath
Le Marquis de Granville Laurent Naouri
Les Espions François Piolino, Rodolphe Briand, Laurent Alvaro
World premiere Luca Francesconi : Trompe-la-mort

“I am the author, you are the play: if you fail it is I who shall be jeered at.”
Trompe-la-mort (Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, Honoré de Balzac)

For this new opera, Luca Francesconi has seized upon one of the guiding figures of La Comédie Humaine: Vautrin alias Jacques Collin, alias the Abbot Carlos Herrera, alias Saint-Estève, alias… Trompe-la-mort. An impressive masked figure, Trompe‑la‑mort reveals his true character through his impalpable latent energy and a plot abounding in tragic twists of fate. An ambivalent character, both regal in bearing and warmly protective, cruel and yet loving, rapacious and indomitable even in the face of madness, this ’Machiavelli among miscreants’ destined to become chief of police, uses his conquests to advance relentlessly in the pursuit of his aims whilst keeping his hand closely hidden. A consummate opportunist, the implacable Trompe-la-mort exploits each turn of events with masterful subterfuge in his plot to subvert the social and economic order. He nonetheless remains fiercely devoted to those he has taken under his wing. Directed by Guy Cassiers, working for the first time with the Paris Opera, this portrait of a three-tiered society where some rise and others fall takes up Balzac’s question: “Is not the world a stage? The ’Troisième‑Dessous’ is the bottommost cellar beneath the stage of the Opera accommodating machinery, stagehands, the ramp, apparitions, blue devils spewing out of hell, etc.” Luca Francesconi : Trompe-la-mort

Web site: www.operadeparis.fr
Address: L’Opéra National de Paris
120 rue de Lyon
75012 Paris
France
Phone: +33 1 43 43 96 96
Fax: +33 1 43 73 13 74

Season: Sep-Jul
Capacity: 2013 seats Palais Garnier
2716 seats Opéra Bastille
500 seats Amphitheatre

Booking: in person, postal, Phone: +33 1 71 25 24 23
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 11.00-18.30  Disabled access: Special seats