Schedule of events - Grand Théâtre de Genève

Rolling on the waves of drama, romance and comedy, Shakespeare’s final play depicts the sorcerer Prospero’s quest for vengeance on a mysterious island, whose charms inspired the Geneva-born composer Frank Martin to create a shimmering opera score, premiered in 1956 at the Vienna State Opera. Conducted by Thierry Fischer, this brave new world is brought to life at the BFM by the prodigious art of director Netia Jones and the electrifying voice of baritone Stéphane Degout. 

Stephen Sondheim, the acclaimed lyricist of West Side Story, established himself as a leading composer in 1970 with Company in which he dissects the trials and tribulations of married life with irony and warmth through the stories of a group of New Yorkers in the throes of an existential crisis. Conducted by Larry Blank, this flagship title of the US musical repertoire is presented at the BFM in a French adaptation, powered by James Bonas’s high-energy direction and Ewan Jones’s exhilarating dance numbers.

Long banned for its criticism of the privileges of the nobility, Beaumarchais’ play The Marriage of Figaro premiered in Paris in 1784. Five years later, the Ancien Régime was abolished. Between these two dates, the ‘Figaro phenomenon’ swept across Enlightenment Europe and found one of its most brilliant expressions in Mozart’s opera. Inspired by the piece’s revolutionary context, Jetske Mijnssen stages this indispensable masterpiece of the repertoire, under the musical direction of Marta Gardolińska.

In Roman Antioch, Theodora refuses to renounce her Christian faith and faces persecution, whilst Didymus, an officer converted out of love, defies the authorities in an attempt to save her. The poignant account of their martyrdom provided Handel in 1749 with the subject for a refined and introspective oratorio in the twilight of his life. Krzysztof Warlikowski and Raphaël Pichon, leading his own Pygmalion ensemble, reveal the piece’s full theatrical intensity in their first collaboration.

A forerunner of the Wild West genre, La fanciulla del West blends romantic passion with a manhunt against the backdrop of the Gold Rush. Whilst its libretto celebrates the United States’ ‘manifest destiny’, Puccini’s masterful, almost cinematic score – conducted by Antonino Fogliani – seems to reveal the darker side of America’s great founding myths. Marie-Ève Signeyrole uses this ambiguity to drive a breathless, closed-door drama with the feel of a psychological thriller.

With Only the Sound Remains (2016), Kaija Saariaho presents a diptych inspired by Japanese Noh theatre. In it, she sets to music the encounter between the human and the supernatural through an airy score, delicately playing with the timbres, textures and contrasts made by an intimate ensemble conducted by Ernest Martínez Izquierdo. In a pictorial space created by Julie Mehretu, Peter Sellars stages a stylised and meditative performance, where emotion arises from restraint and suggestion.

With The Threepenny Opera, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill tore up the rule book of musical theatre and produced an acerbic satire of capitalism. A mix of popular songs, jazz and opera, this maverick musical phenomenon was an instant hit in 1928 and has still not shown signs of flagging. Barrie Kosky, the greatest living master of cabaret and musical theatre, makes the work wax lyrical and showcases its theatricality in a labyrinthine set where the Berliner Ensemble performers, conducted by Adam Benzwi, do their thing for the first time ever in Geneva.