18 VII

2 hrs 2 mins.

Recorded at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées 2022

Directed by Laurent Pelly

Musical direction – Marc Minkowski

In the title role – Marina Viotti

Orchestra Les Musiciens du Louvre and Chorus of the National Opera of Bordeaux (Chœur de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux).

Perichola (La Périchole) is based on the biography of Peruvian actress and courtesan Camila Périchole, who in turn emulated the lifestyle of another actress and mistress of Peru’s Viceroy Don Manuel, Micaëla Villegas.
Even before Offenbach’s operetta was written, this woman contemptuously called “la perra chola” (literally “the bitch of mixed race”) entered literature as the heroine of Prosper Mérimée’s play Le Carrosse du Saint-Sakrement.
Offenbach’s librettists (Meilhac and Halévy) made her a street singer. And the work, from which the libertine spirit shines through, criticizes the power in France at the time.
The staging, which will be shown at the Musical Gardens, is already another joint performance by the Pelly – Minkowski creative tandem.

French director Laurent Pelly is among the most sought-after by the world’s major opera and drama theaters, and Frenchman with Polish roots Marc Minkowski is a highly regarded conductor, especially for his interpretations of French music of the Baroque era. This time he directed a performance of much later music. Did it gain luster under his baton? Let’s find out.