Travel Tip: Opera in France
Hippolyte et Aricie

Hippolyte et Aricie (1733)
Tragedy in Five Acts and a Prologue
By Jean-Philippe Rameau
Words by L'Abbé Simon Joseph Pellegrin
Performed in French

On 1 October 1733, Rameau made his operatic debut at the Royal Academy of Music. Aged 50, the composer already had a great career as a musician and theorist behind him. Now it was time for the man of the theatre to establish himself and this was precisely what he would do for the next 25 years. All of a sudden, tragic opera took on new tones, colours and subjects.

The staggering contrast between the severe and classical Racinian tragedy and the heady enchantments of baroque opera makes Rameau's first opera utterly unique and fascinating. A founding work in the history of opera.

Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor
Ivan Alexandre: Stage director 
Antoine Fontaine: Sets
Jean-Daniel Vuillermoz: Costumes
Hervé Gary: Lighting
Natalie Van Parys: Choreography

Sarah Connolly: Phèdre
Anne-Catherine Gillet: Aricie
Andrea Hill: Diane
Jaël Azzaretti L’Amour / Une Prêtresse / Une Matelote
Salomé Haller: Oenone
Marc Mauillon: Tisiphone
Aurélia Legay: La Grande Prêtresse de Diane / Une Chasseresse / Une Prêtresse
Topi Lehtipuu: Hippolyte
Stéphane Degout: Thésée
François Lis: Pluton / Jupiter
Aimery Lefèvre: Arcas / Deuxième Parque
Manuel Nuñez Camelino: Un Suivant / Mercure
Jérôme Varnier: Neptune / Troisième Parque

Orchestre et choeur du Concert d’Astrée