Opera Atelier, the busiest touring opera company in North America, has announced that it will be regularly appearing at the Royal Opera at the Palace of Versailles in France every other season.
Based in Toronto, the opera house is already a recurring guest at Versailles but has recently made its appearance official.
According to the Toronto Star, the partnership will begin with the revival of Armide, which will kickstart Atelier's 30th anniversary season. The production will first open in Toronto in October and then travel to France to be performed in November.
This will be the second time Atelier will be performing the Jean-Baptiste Lully opera, which opened in Toronto in April 2012 and then Versailles in May. The 2015 version of the opera will host mostly the same cast as the original with Peggy Kriha Dye, Colin Ainsworth, Carla Huhtanen, Olivier Laquerre, Meghan Lindsay and Aaron Ferguson all returning. The 2015 performance will also feature new cast members Stephen Hegedus and Daniel Belcher.
The play focuses on sorceress Armide after she captures her enemy, Christian knight Renaud. As she goes to kill him, she falls in love with him, casting a spell to make him love her in return. After reaching out to the Goddess of Hate to restore her ill feelings, the goddess condemns her to eternal love.
Armide will begin in Toronto Oct. 22 and then travel to France, where it will run from Nov. 20 to 22. The second production in the Opera Atelier season will be Lucio Silla, written by a 16-year-old Mozart. The first staging at the Salzburg Festival in 2013 received critical acclaim, which led to an invitation to the La Scala opera house in Milan. The production will run there from Feb. 26 until March 17, when it will return to Toronto’s Elgin Theatre April 7 to 16.
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