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By Frank Cadenhead
18 Sep 2009
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| Bryn Terfel |
The Opéra Royal of Versailles, closed more than two years for repairs, reopens on Sept. 21 with a gala evening of music and song featuring Marc Minkowski, Mireille Delunsch, Richard Croft and Bryn Terfel.
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The 18th Century opera house, built as part of the Palace of Versailles as a wedding present for Marie Antoinette, "is one of the most beautiful parts of the castle and one of the most beautiful in the world," said Jean-Jacques Aillagon, director of the Versailles palace and gardens, one of the world's top tourist destinations.
The 652-seat opera house was closed to overhaul the heating and electricity systems and to repair decorative details in the boxes. It was designed by Ange-Jacques Gabriel and constructed entirely of wood and painted to resemble marble in a technique known as faux marble. Lully’s opera, Persée inaugurated the Opéra on 16 May 1770.
The gala reopening concert features Marc Minkowski and his baroque ensemble, Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble with works of Haydn, Gluck and Mozart. Soloists will be soprano Mireille Delunsch, tenor Richard Croft and bass-baritone Bryn Terfel. A gala dinner will follow the concert in the Hall of Mirrors. The evening, to benefit the chateau, is already sold-out.
Scheduled for 2009-2010 are recitals, three staged Mozart operas, concerts by soprano Barbara Hendricks, French "chanteuse" Juliette Greco as well Moliere's play Le Malade imaginaire (The Hypochondriac) and Grétry's rarely seen opera, L'Amant jaloux (The Jealous Lover).
The season at Versailles is at http://en.chateauversailles.fr/news/events/shows/the-royal-opera
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