Two sisters are abandoned on a desert island. Costanza, the eldest, engraves on a rock the tale of her sad destiny. Silvia, the youngest, raised in harmony with Nature, faces the brutal revelation of a amorous commotion when two men, Enrico and Gernando, land on the island looking for them.

Francesco Cavalli, a natural successor to Monteverdi, was the most famous and influential Italian opera composer during the mid-17th century. Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister to the king, commissioned Cavalli to create a Parisian spectacle to celebrate the wedding of the ‘Sun King’ Louis XIV and the Infanta of Spain. Ercole amante (‘Hercules in Love’) was the flattering subject chosen for this regal extravaganza combining larger-than-life characters with mythology, and genuine human emotions with natural and cosmic phenomena. The result is a sumptuous Baroque spectacle, conceived on a vast scale in this lavish production by directors Valerie Lesort and Christian Hecq.

Discover Jetske Mijnssen's 2016 staging of Luigi Rossi's masterpiece Orfeo. Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion perform this beautiful opera at the Opéra national de Lorraine.

Il mondo della luna (1777) is a sparkling comic opera by Joseph Haydn, with a witty libretto based on Carlo Goldoni’s play. In this award-winning production from the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, co-produced with Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao, visionary director Emilio Sagi crafts a whimsical journey that earned Best New Opera Production at the 2014 Teatro Campoamor Lyric Awards. Set in a world where imagination and deception collide, the story follows the gullible Buonafede, an old man tricked into believing he’s been transported to the moon. Goldoni’s sharp satire on human credulity meets Haydn’s elegant, playful score, full of creative flourishes and refined humor. Known as the father of the symphony and string quartet, Haydn’s operatic genius shines in this delightful fable, long overshadowed by his contemporaries but brought to vivid life in a production brimming with charm, humor, and lunar magic. Prepare for a journey where the moon feels closer than ever!

The first modern-day world premiere of Lully's last ballet-comedy.