April in Paris

A selection of operatic and concert events in Paris - April 2010.

Salle Pleyel

• Sat 3 : Marc Minkowski will be conducting his Les Musiciens du Louvre and the good ensemble of soloists in a performance of Johannespassion by J.S. Bach.
• Wed 7: Murray Perahia will be back for his yearly recital - prog. Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin.
• Thu 8: Nathalie Manfrino and Saimir Pirgu in company with the Orchestre National de Lille conducted by Patrick Fournillier will sing the excerpts from the operas by Gounod, Massenet, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi
• Sat 10: Yuri Bashmet will conduct the Symphony Orchestra of New Russia in a performance of the 5th Symphony by Tchaikovsky, and --with Gidon Kremer-- the 4th Violin Concerto by Schnittke
• Fri 16:  Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Christian Tetzlaff for a not-often-performed Violin Concerto by Szymanowski  
  
• Wed 21: Bertrand Chamayou, a good young French pianist, prog. Debussy, Satie and Milhaud. Orchestre de Paris lead by Yutaka Sado will add Le Sacre du printemps in the second part
• Fri 23: Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the pianist Roger Muraro,  conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, for a night of Ravel and Mussorgsky 
• Sun 25: Uri Caine Ensemble for a peculiar performance of Mozart concertos (I've been told so many good things about them -- time for me to see them myself)
• Tue 27: Hélène Grimaud will play the Concerto for piano and orchestra by Ravel, together with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding. In the second part, Mahler's Symphony No.6.

Théatre des Champs-Elysées

• Thu 1: Orchestre National de France conducted by Andris Nelsons, plus Pavel Sporci - prog Brahms and Dvorak 
• Wed 7: [our fave] Alexandre Tharaud -- recital Schubert & Chopin 
• Thu 8:  Boris Berezovsky and  Orchestre National de France with Maestro Gianandrea Noseda and 3 singers: Dina Kuznetsova, Kostyantyn Andreyev, Andrei Tanovitsky will perform The Spring and The Bells by Rachmaninov
• Sat 11: Andras Schiff -- recital, all-Bach for you
• Tue 13:  Sylvia Schwarz, Mariana Mijanovic and Ensemble Orchestral de Paris for an eclectic program which includes Stabat Mater by Pergolesi. Joseph Swensen will conduct
• Wed 14: Jean-Guihen Queyras -- recital, again all-Bach but on cello
• Sat 17: Antonio Pappano will lead Han-na Chang and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorcheste: prog. Strauss & Shostakovich 
• Sun 18: Rolando Villazon and Hélène Grimaud, a wining combination. Prog - songs by De Falla, Duparc, Massenet and Schumann

Théâtre du Châtelet

• Fri 2, Sun 4, Tue 6, Thu 8, Fri 9  Rarely staged Scott Joplin's ragtime opera Treemonisha 
• Sun 11 : At laaaast Ebène Quartet to perform in Paris: after all the awards and praise worldwide they are given a slot on Sunday-morning - Sic!!! [ French Paradox 101 ]
• Thu 29: The cycle of Symphonies by Mahler: Orchestre National de France and its Chorus, all lead by Daniele Gatti to perform the Symphony #3. Christianne Stotijn will sing

Opéra national de Paris - Opéra Bastille

• April 3, 5, 8, 10, 14, 18, 21and 23: Coline Serreau's production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Antonino Siragusa, Paata Burchuladze, Dalibor Jenis and Karine Deshayes. Bruno Campanella to conduct.
• Mon 12: Pierre Boulez will conduct the Paris Opera Orchestra and Melanie Diener in the night of Messiaen
• April 24, 27 and 29: Billy Budd - a revival of an apparently brilliant production by Francesca Zambello with a terrific cast, and Maestro Jeffrey Tate

Opéra Comique 

• April 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18: New production of Mignon, an opera by Ambroise Thomas, directed by Jean-Louis Benoit with Marie Lenormand, Ismael Jordi, Nicolas Cavallier, et al

Cité de la Musique

• Fri 2: Brussels Philharmonic to perform the symphonic works by Ravel and Debussy
• Thu 8, Fri 9: Massacre an opera by Wolfgang Mitterer (see info on their website)
• Thu 15: Ensemble intercontemporain, conducted by Clement Power for all Boulez program
• Sat 17: Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Lisa Batiashvili (violin) will follow the baton of Sakari Oramo in a performance of works by Ligeti, Prokofiev, Saint-Saens and Schumann

Musée du Louvre

• Wed 14: Stephane Degout, for his first(?) solo-recital, in a company of Hélène Lucas (piano) will sing the songs by Poulenc, Hahn, Chabrier, Schubert and Dvorak

Salle Gaveau

• Fri 9  Junko Okazaki, a recital by one more Chopin-specialist
• Mon 12, Tue 13:  Ruggero Raimondi -- 2 days = 4 Master Classes
• Thu 15: Karine Deshayes with a program she decides to sing (still to be fixed) in company of a young Orchestra "Les Nouveaux Caractères"

Théâtre Athénée

• April 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17: "In the Penal Colony" ["Dans la colonie pénitentiaire"] , a chamber opera by Philip Glass. Must see...

Other than that, "April in Paris" is a terrific song. Listen to Sarah Vaughan and enjoy :)