PARIS: Opera is enriched by its divas

. All-powerful goddesses, objects of every fantasy, they are also slaves sacrificed to their art, to composers and to their public. Through them and through their science, their destiny, their cult-worship, and their power, the history of opera unfolds.

MAGIC HEROINES OF THE PARIS OPERA - Exhibition at Palais Garnier

This exhibition at Palais Garnier in Paris, France, will evoke for the first time some of the great figures linked to the Palais Garnier, that erstwhile brand-new temple devoted to opera and all its excesses: among others, Rose Caron (who gave first performances of Reyer’s works as well as the roles of Sieglinde in The Walkyrie and Desdemona in Otello), Gabrielle Krauss (first performer of Gounod’s last works), Sybil Sanderson (Massenet’s muse for Thaïs), and Lucienne Bréval, the very model of the noble singer, who would reign here for thirty years… In the opening years of the new century, modernity entered the theatre with the fiery temperaments of Aino Ackté, Emma Calvé and Mary Garden with her scandalous Salomé.

This exhibition will rekindle the memory of these exceptional women through photographs, objects, jewellery, costume sketches and rare documents. Presented inside the Palais Garnier itself, the exhibition will also evoke the passage from one century to another which is as much to be felt in the repertoire as in the image reflected by these goddesses and their relationship with the public

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ORGANIZERS:
Christophe Ghristi,  Director of Dramaturgy at the Paris Opera
Pierre Vidal, Director of the Paris Opera Library Museum
Mathias Auclair, Head Curator of the Paris Opera Library Museum
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PALAIS GARNIER
from 7 June to 25 September 2011

Everyday : from 10:00 AM  to 06:00 PM*
* from 17 July to 4 September closed at 06:00 PM

PUBLICATIONS
« Les Tragédiennes de l’Opéra »
By Christophe Ghristi
Texts : Mathias Auclair, Rémy Campos, Christophe Ghristi, Elizabeth Giuliani, José Pons, André Tubeuf and Pierre Vidal
Publishers  : Albin Michel – 49 €