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December 2022

Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Cecilia Bartoli’s first season

Having sung in the world’s finest international opera houses, the mezzo-soprano coloratura is taking

the reins of the Monegasque opera in 2023, and has devised an ambitious programme.

Cecilia Bartoli présente sa première saison en tant que nouvelle directrice de l’Opéra de Monte-Carlo.

Le Barbier de Séville mis en scène par Rolando Villazón, programmé en avril 2023.

Cecilia Bartoli was just 22 years old when she first sang on stage at the Opéra Garnier in The Barber of Seville, and more recently, Monegasque audiences saw her play the role of Comtesse Adèle in Le Comte Ory by Gioachino Rossini. Cecilia Bartoli’s ties with Monaco go back a long way, and the relationship has been further strengthened lately. The singer helped create the Musiciens du Prince-Monaco, a new orchestra whose musicians play period instruments, with the aim of reviving the great tradition of court music, and with whom she performs throughout Europe. Following this, Jean-Louis Grinda, director of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo for fifteen seasons, asked her to take over from him. Bartoli, who has also directed the Salzburg Whitsun Festival since 2012, agreed to pour all her experience as a singer and artistic director into the Monegasque opera, and has unveiled her first programme, beginning January 2023. The selection has a strong focus on baroque music, a genre in which she is one of the vocal virtuosos. The programme is innovative in terms of the repertoire, featuring pieces that have never been performed in the Principality, such as Alcina by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), while honouring the heritage of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, for example with La Traviata directed by Jean-Louis Grinda. Bartoli has brought together many of the talented artists she has met over the course of her career, so as to pay tribute to them. This season, for instance, she is taking the opportunity to celebrate the 80th birthday of the extraordinary pianist Daniel Barenboim.