Sandrine Piau

The world premiere of composer Kaija Saariaho's opera, "Innocence", at the 2021 Aix-en-Provence Festival. Finland is the setting but the protagonists come from the four corners of Europe: a Finnish groom and his Romanian bride, a French mother-in-law and a Czech maid. Around them memories unravel in a contemporary tragedy of guilt and lost innocence.

At Salzburg Festival, Cecilia Bartoli shines as Ariodante with her dazzling coloratura in a highly acclaimed new production by the German director Christoph Loy, who is known for his clever psychological stagings. Loy turns Handel's splendid baroque opera into an exciting and differentiated reflection on gender roles.

At the end of 2013, the year that marked the 50th anniversary of Francis Poulenc’s death, his gripping and moving operatic masterpiece, Dialogues des Carmélites was staged in Paris by director Olivier Py with a cast featuring some of France’s finest female singers – Patricia Petitbon, Véronique Gens, Sandrine Piau and Sophie Koch – under the baton of Jérémie Rohrer. Le Figaro described the production as “a thing of wonder,” while Le Monde called it: “A masterpiece ... the most exciting and consummately achieved show to have been seen on a Parisian stage in a long time … This was great work, magisterial and unforgettable.” “The memorable Dialogues des Carmélites at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées marked the climax of commemorative activities for the 50th anniversary of Poulenc’s death,” wrote Opera magazine of the production of Poulenc’s gripping and moving opera that was staged by the French director Olivier Py in Paris in December 2013.

Featurette from the Opus Arte DVD of Les Paladins by Jean-Philippe Rameau staged at the Théâtre du Chatelet in Paris, 2004.

"Inspired by a fable by La Fontaine, [composer Jean-Philippe] Rameau produced perhaps his most brilliant music for his penultimate great work, blending reality and the surreal on several levels." — from the DVD back cover

Live performance at the Théâtre du Châtelet in December 2004. Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble. Stage direction by Laurent Pelly.

Serse is perhaps Handel's most intriguing operas. Rediscovered at the 1924 Göttingen Handel Festival, the work soon became one of the composer's most popular operas, surpassed only by Giulio Cesare. Its popularity might in part be due to the incredibly popular aria it contains, Ombra mai fu. Recordings of the complete opera are rare and this one first presented in Dresden combines a visually strong staging with exceptional cast and ensemble of Baroque specialists.