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The Paris Opera HD screening – The Marriage of Figaro

Invite you to enjoy the Paris Opera HD screening of The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, directed by Netia Jones and conducted by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, Paris Opera Music Director, on Sunday, April 2, 2023, at 3:00pm, at the FIAF Florence Gould Hall.

The American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet is delighted to renew the Paris Opera HD screening series in partnership with the French Institute Alliance Française for its 6th consecutive edition, bringing the company’s premier music and dance productions to New York audiences.

With its clever dialogue, sophisticated music, multi-layered characterization and universal themes, The Marriage of Figaro is one of the most emblematic operas of all time. Brahms spoke of it as a “miracle” and the Countess’s lament resounds even today as one of the most heartbreaking passages in musical history. It was in taking up Beaumarchais’ comedy, a play that sparked off a scandal in Parisian society, that Mozart and his librettist, da Ponte, began their collaboration, although the play had already been forbidden by the Emperor Joseph II at the Vienna theatre in 1785. Was this because it exposed all too publicly the contradictions of an already tottering regime, soon to be swept away by the French Revolution? Neita Jones’s new production conserves the essence of Beaumarchais’s play, questioning human relationships with mischievous humour in a production that confuses reality and fiction to such an extent that, like the Count, we wonder, “Are we acting out a play?”

Approx. 4 hours with 1 intermission
In Italian with English subtitles

The Cast
Il Conte di Almaviva: Christopher Maltman
La Contessa di Almaviva: Maria Bengtsson
Susanna: Ying Fang
Figaro: Luca Pisaroni
Cherubino: Lea Desandre
Marcellina: Dorothea Röschmann
Bartolo: James Creswell
Don Basilio: Gregory Bonfatti
Don Curzio: Christophe Mortagne
Barbarina: Kseniia Proshina
Antonio: Mathieu Lécroart
Due Donne: Andrea Cueva Molnar, Ilanah Lobel-Torres

Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte
Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – (1756-1791)
Musical direction: Gustavo Dudamel
Director: Netia Jones
Set Design, Costumes, Video: Netia Jones
Lighting: Lucy Carter
Choreography: Sophie Laplane
Collaborating director: Glen Sheppard
Dramaturgy: Solène Souriau
Video collaboration: Ian Winters & Lightmap
Chorus Master: Alessandro Di Stefano

Presented in partnership with the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet
Special thanks to The Paris Opera & Ballet
Sponsor of The Paris Opera’s audiovisual broadcasts: Orange Foundation
Cinéma Distribution: FRA Cinéma