TheOpéra National de Lyon (French pronunciation:[ɔpeʁanɑsjɔnaldəljɔ̃]), marketed asOpéra de Lyon during the last decade, is anopera company inLyon, based and performing mostly at theOpéra Nouvel, an 1831 theater that was modernized and architecturally transformed in 1993.
The inaugural performance ofFrançois-Adrien Boïeldieu'sLa Dame blanche was given on 1 July 1831. The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries saw some significant French premieres of major operas includingRichard Wagner'sDie Meistersinger in 1896,Giordano'sAndrea Chénier in the following year, andMoussorgsky'sBoris Godunov in 1913. In addition, many world premieres such asArnold Schoenberg'sErwartung (1967) have been presented.
In the years after the 1969 appointment of Louis Erlo as general director, many innovative productions and premieres of both French operas and Twentieth Century operas have been staged. Two significant French artists who have been associated with the Opéra in recent years are the stage director,Laurent Pelly, and the soprano,Natalie Dessay.
Past principal conductors at the company have includedAndré Cluytens,John Eliot Gardiner,Kent Nagano,Louis Langrée,Iván Fischer, andKazushi Ono.[1] Since the start of the 2017–2018 season, the company's current principal conductor (chef permanent) of the company isDaniele Rustioni,[2] whose appointment to the post was announced in March 2015.[3] The current choirmaster of the company is Philip White, since 2015.
The company has an affiliatedcorps de ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet. As well, the company has a children's choir,La Maîtrise (masterclass), was created in 1990 to form a top-level choir of young soloists. Since 1993, it has a status similar to other French musical schools.
A first theater was built here bySoufflot during the 18th century. Nevertheless, the theatre soon became too small and the architects Chenavard and Pollet rebuilt a brand new one in aneo-classical style in 1830.
At the beginning of the 1980s, out of age and not meeting the needs any more, the Opera had to be renewed. A competition for architects was thus launched and won in 1986 byJean Nouvel. The new Opera of Lyon was inaugurated in May 1993 and is now part of the international architectural heritage.
Outside the opera house, Nouvel only kept the outer walls. He also dug new underground levels and added a semi-cylindrical dome that is used by dancers.On the opera house front wall, 8 muses have been kept in place (Uranie, the 9th one was removed to respect the symmetry of the building).
The opera received the "Opera Company of the Year" award at the 2017International Opera Awards.[4]
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