La Damnation de Faust
Hector Berlioz
Goethe and Berlioz with a masterpiece of French Romanticism.
Dates
Jakob Lehmann | direction
Silvia Costa | staging, design, costumes
Laura Ketels | collaboration staging
Ama Tomberli | collaboration costumes
Simon Hatab | dramaturgy
Michele Taborelli | design
Marco Giusti | lights
Petr Nekoranec | Faust
Victoria Karkacheva | Marguerite
Christian Van Horn | Méphistophélès
Thomas Dolié | Brander
Benjamin Bernheim is ill and has to withdraw from the last two performances.
Les Siècles
Chœur de Radio France | direction Lionel Sow
Associate Choir Director | Joël Soichez
Maîtrise de Radio France | direction Marie-Noëlle Maerten
NEW PREVIEW FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UNDER 30 : 20€
Friday 31 October 7.30
Book
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Sung in French, surtitled in French/English
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Pre dress rehearsal under 30s : Friday 31 October 2025, 7.30pm
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Performance with audio description : Saturday 15 November 2025, 6pm
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Approx. running time: 1h30 - Intermission (30mn) - 30mn
About
La Damnation de Faust certainly belongs to that category of works whose fate seems to be suspended in time. Berlioz took almost twenty years to complete this “dramatic legend”, as it is described in its subtitle, a visionary project which treads a tightrope between a grand opera (which it would subsequently become) and a symphonic poem (a genre in which the French musician rivalled Strauss). He was instantly captivated by Gérard de Nerval’s translation of Goethe’s Faust and the idea of setting the legend to music haunted him for many years.
We are delighted to welcome a fresh young artistic team to perform this major work which epitomizes the Romantic aesthetic. In the autumn of 2024, the musical rapport between the young conductor Jakob Lehmann and the musicians of Les Siècles was very obvious. Berlioz will be their first opportunity to work together in the orchestra pit. For the last ten years, the young director Silvia Costa has been creating visual and poetic theatre informed by research on the imaginary. This multi-facetted and inventive artist draws on all aspects of the arts to explore the workings of drama.
New production
Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
In collaboration with Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre for Early Music
In partnership with france.tv
This opera will be broadcast on 27 December at 8 p.m. on "Samedi à l'Opéra" presented by Judith Chaine. It will then be available to listen to again on France Musique and the Radio France app.
This opera is being filmed by François Roussillon and co-produced by the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, FRAprod and Radio France, with the participation of Mezzo, medici.tv, TV5Monde and the support of the CNC. This opera will be broadcast on Mezzo Live on 23 November 2025 and on medici.tv on 26 November 2025.
