Eric Vigié will leave the direction of the Opéra de Lausanne in June 2024. The Frenchman made this announcement during the presentation of the 2022/2023 season, which includes several shows postponed due to the pandemic, including the new opera dedicated to the major David.
“I will have spent 20 years as a director. It’s already not bad, and perhaps even a record in the Francophonie”, noted Thursday Eric Vigié, in front of a few hundred guests gathered at the Opera of Lausanne. The native of Toulon, 60 years old this year, arrived in 2004 to succeed François-Xavier Hauville. The name of his successor should be known within twelve months.
Present Thursday in the room, the syndic of Lausanne Grégoire Junod made a point of paying a first tribute to Eric Vigié, who knew how to “build public loyalty and offer a high level offer whose quality has never been denied”. The municipal official in charge of culture also stressed that the director had been able to “manage the house well” by presenting “always positive accounts.”
Postponed works
Before making this announcement, Eric Vigié presented the program for the 2022/2023 season, his penultimate, which will start in October with “L’Elisir d’Amore” by Donizetti. A production which had already opened in Lausanne in 2012 and which, following accumulating successes over the decade, will definitely end its tour in the Vaudois capital.
The upcoming season will reschedule several shows that for the past two years have been canceled due to Covid-19. This is the case of “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein (scheduled for November 2022), “Domino Noir” by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (March 2023) or the famous “Norma” by Bellini (June 2023).
Another well-known work, “My Fair Lady” will be played during the holiday season. Eric Vigié indicated that prices would be reduced by regarding 20% for this musical, so that the appointment is “as popular as possible.”
From Pinocchio to Davel
The children will also be entitled to their show, a version of “Pinocchio” composed by Gloria Bruni. The opera, which dates from 2008, will be presented for the first time in French.
The “Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo” will also stop in Lausanne. This troupe of American dancers revisits, in the form of sketches, the great female roles of ballet. “It’s crazy and hilarious,” assured Eric Vigié.
Another show delayed by the pandemic, “Davel” will finally be shown to the public next February. This new opera, composed by the Lausanne resident Christian Favre, looks back on the last days of Major Jean Daniel Abraham Davel, beheaded in 1723 for having led his fellow Vaudois to rebel once morest the Bernese.
It is the French baritone Régis Mengus who will interpret the patriot, who has become a hero in the collective memory of the Vaudois. “I think this opera will leave its mark on Swiss opera,” said Eric Vigié.
Returning once once more to the pandemic, the director noted that the Lausanne Opera had “not suffered too much”. Above all, he stressed that the current season was going “very well” with a room almost always full. Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” is currently playing.
This article has been published automatically. Source: ats