La Damnation de Faust - Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (2025) - La Damnation de Faust - Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (2025)

Description

New production. The Damnation of Faust
Four performances from 3 to 15 November 2025 (preview for young people on 31 October)

The Théâtre des Champs-Elysées is organising its season around 'sequences'. The highlight of its Monstres et merveilles (Monsters and Wonders) sequence is La Damnation de Faust, a rarely performed opera by Hector Berlioz.

"On the borderline between grand opera (which it later became) and the symphonic poem (of which the French composer was one of the masters, along with Strauss), The Damnation of Faust is a visionary project that took Berlioz almost 20 years to complete. From the outset, Berlioz was fascinated by Gérard de Nerval's translation of Goethe's Faust, and the idea of setting the legend to music haunted him for a long time. The stage version was first performed in 1893 and was a great success. Typical of the Romantic aesthetic, it is presented as a series of orchestral tableaux that highlight the full range of emotions."

At the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the work is presented in a new production by the young Italian director Silvia Costa. A student of Romeo Castellucci, her work is characterised by an emphasis on "aesthetics and plasticity", imbued with poetry and a reflection on the meaning and power of images. According to the Théâtre, the director has imagined "a production that takes the free and fragmentary essence of the work, a form that does not try to hide either leaps or discontinuities, a show that is more a musical event than a classical story from point A to point B".

In the pit, the musical direction will be entrusted to the young German conductor Jakob Lehmann (founder of the Eroica Berlin chamber orchestra and associate artistic director of the New York bel canto festival Teatro Nuovo), who will lead the Les Siècles ensemble.

On stage, tenor Benjamin Bernheim, known for his love of the French repertoire, will perform the role of Faust (role debut) for the first time. Alongside him, the young mezzo-soprano Victoria Karkacheva takes on the role of Marguerite. The American bass-baritone Christian van Horn sings the role of Mephistopheles and the French baritone Thomas Dolié the role of Brander.

Free translation of our presentation of the production in French