Ariadne auf Naxos

On one side, the stage: Zerbinetta and her commedia dell’arte troupe. On the other, the myth: Ariadne, abandoned by Theseus. Caught in the middle is a composer at the mercy of his patron. From this unlikely encounter comes a dazzling display of wit and imagination.

With Ariadne auf Naxos, Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal turn theatre itself into a witty play within a play: a wealthy patron brings together a composer, tasked with writing an opera seria, and a troupe of Italian comic performers. Their challenge? To put on a show together!

Playing with the blurred boundaries between fiction and reality, and combining naturalistic theatre with meticulously choreographed bursts of exuberance, director Myriam Marzouki sets the action against the sun-drenched backdrop of 1960s Greece. At the same time, she brings the opera’s political undercurrents to the fore, exploring the many arbitrary constraints so often placed on composers and performers and artists as a whole.

In the pit, the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne and its principal conductor, Joseph Bastian, bring this opera about opera to life—a musical backstage drama well ahead of its time.

Libretto Hugo von Hofmannsthal  

Musical director Joseph Bastian
Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne

Staging Myriam Marzouki
Stage sets Alex Eales
Costumes Laure Mahéo
Lighting Fabrice Kebour
Choreography Jean-François Kessler
Dramaturgy Sébastien Lepotvin

The Prima donna, Ariadne Eugénie Joneau
The Tenor, Bacchus Tadeusz Szlenkier
Zerbinetta Elisabeth Boudreault
The Composer Polly Leech
Harlequin James Newby
Brighella Abel Zamora
Scaramuccio Aleksandre Khukhushvili (OnR Opera Studio)
Truffaldin Antoine Foulon
Naiad Michèle Bréant
Dryad Lucy Evans (OnR Opera Studio)
Echo Charlotte Bonnet
The Music master Jochen Kupfer
The Dance master Lucas Pauchet
The Majordomo Christian Heller
The Officer Phillip Peterson
The Wig maker Jonas Yajure
The Footman Henry Boyles

Production Opéra national du Rhin - Coproduction Opéra de Dijon

^{Photo © Marine Lanier - Tendance Floue}