An imprisoned King, his knights singing loyalty to him with a famous air "O Richard, O my King" sung in the Royal Opera House by the Bodyguards of Louis XVI in 1789... This is Richard Cœur de Lion by Grétry!
With
Rémy Mathieu (DVD)
Enguerrand Hys (CD)
Reinoud Van Mechelen
Melody Louledjian
Marie Perbost
Geoffroy Buffière
Virginie Lefèvre
François Pardailhé
Jean-Gabriel Saint-Martin
Cécile Achille
Agathe Boudet
Charles Barbier
François Joron
Le Concert Spirituel, choir and orchestra
Hervé Niquet, conductor
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of our theatre, we are pleased to present the return of Grétry's most celebrated Richard Cœur de Lion (Richard the Lionheart) (1784), which during a century was the most famous 18th century French Opéra-comique in Europe. Hervé Niquet and Marshall Pynkoski place the action back under the reign of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Grétry, the Queen's most beloved composer, was a familiar face at the Royal Opera. His Richard is the culmination of a career: here we have an opportunity to put him back into the great History of Versailles, with the first complete production at the Royal Opera of Versailles since... 1789!
