Jules Massenet: Grisélidis Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie & Jean-Marie Zeitouni

• Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912): Grisélidis, Prologue:
• 1 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Prélude et Arioso. Ouvrez-vous sur mon front 02:48
• 2 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Scène. Prieur, de ces côtés on l’aura vu peut-être 01:32
• 3 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Air. Voir Grisélidis, c’est connaître 01:48
• 4 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Scène. Ah ! voyez... le marquis. 01:43
• 5 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Arioso. Toi qui portes la paix du ciel 01:02
• 6 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Arioso. La volonté du ciel sans doute étant la vôtre 01:30
• 7 Massenet: Grisélidis, Prologue: Scène finale. Au château par la main 02:16
• Grisélidis, Act I:
• 8 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Prélude 01:23
• 9 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Couplets. En Avignon, pays d’amour 02:29
• 10 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Scène. Chut ! les chansons d’amour ont fait leur temps 01:00
• 11 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Scène. Le Marquis ! 02:05
• 12 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Air et Scène. Que dis-tu ? Traiter en prisonnière 02:43
• 13 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Scène. Monseigneur, me voilà ! 00:46
• 14 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Trio. J’avais fait, comme on dit, le diable 03:32
• 15 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Scène. Va, la marquise ici doit venir 01:18
• 16 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Air. Grisélidis ! Grisélidis ! 01:56
• 17 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Duo. Grisélidis ! 02:21
• 18 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Arioso et suite du Duo. Devant le soleil clair 02:50
• 19 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Duo - fin. La douceur des baisers 04:23
• 20 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act I: Mélodrame. Bertrade, reprenons 01:22
• Grisélidis, Act II:
• 21 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Entracte-Idylle 01:50
• 22 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Air. Jusqu’ici, sans dangers 03:33
• 23 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Scène. Pardon ! les chats sont là 00:47
• 24 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Duo. Non ! Vous cherchiez ici 01:10
• 25 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Scène et reprise du Duo. Elle a le diable au corps ! 02:44
• 26 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Air. La mer ! Et sur les flots toujours bleus 04:37
• 27 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Scène et Prière. Mon enfant, viens prier 02:43
• 28 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Chœur. Je vous salue, Marie, pleine de grâce 01:31
• 29 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Trio. Madame, un étranger 02:23
• 30 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Trio - suite. Nos goûts ne se ressemblent guère. 03:09
• 31 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Trio - fin. La volonté du Ciel étant la vôtre 02:42
• 32 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Scène. Mon cher époux 01:52
• 33 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Incantation. Des bois obscurs 02:13
• 34 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Danse des Esprits 00:49
• 35 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Incantation - suite. Accourez ! 00:50
• 36 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Floraison des roses 00:35
• 37 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Sortie des Esprits. Vous qui portez 01:31
• 38 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Air. Je suis l’oiseau 02:20
• 39 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Entrée de Grisélidis. Le rêve a fui mon front 01:23
• 40 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Duo. Elle !... Tout mon être a frémi. 01:35
• 41 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Duo - suite. Grisélidis, écoute-moi ! 03:20
• 42 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Duo - fin. Dans tout mon être, quel émoi ! 02:47
• 43 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act II: Scène finale. Ah ! Loÿs ! Où donc es-tu ? 01:29
• Grisélidis, Act III:
• 44 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Prélude 00:51
• 45 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Air. Loÿs ! Loÿs ! 04:16
• 46 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo. Madame à vos ordres. 02:31
• 47 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo - suite. Soit ! j’irai donc. 01:19
• 48 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Scène. Mais, sacrebleu ! Je vous le dis 01:27
• 49 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo. C’est vrai, nous n’avons pas l’honneur 02:05
• 50 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Scène. S’il n’avait pas menti 01:56
• 51 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Arioso. Dieu ! c’est elle ! Elle revient ! 01:19
• 52 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo. Avant de vous parler 04:28
• 53 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo - suite. Loin qu’elle te pardonne 02:43
• 54 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Mélodrame. Eh bien ! c’est du joli ! 00:39
• 55 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo. L’heure cruelle, hélas ! 02:17
• 56 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Duo - suite. Des armes ! des armes ! 01:03
• 57 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Prière. À l’heure où le Malin 04:20
• 58 Massenet: Grisélidis, Act III: Scène finale. Magnificat anima mea Dominum 01:17
• Total Runtime 02:01:11

Info for Jules Massenet: Grisélidis

Paris discovered Massenet’s Grisélidis at the Opéra-Comique on 20 November 1901.

The work is based on a medieval folktale retold by Boccaccio and Perrault, among others, and already set to music several times in the Baroque era. It gave Massenet the opportunity to handle the ‘Gothic’ colouring of which the early twentieth century could not get enough. The inventive libretto by Armand Silvestre and Eugène Morand explores unusually contrasted registers: the religious, the fantastical, the sentimental and the warlike. Above all, the presence of a scene-stealing Devil, saddled with a cantankerous wife, offers the possibility of contrasting the serious (or sublime) and the comic (or grotesque).

Massenet thus produced a rare example of cross-genre equilibrium, a jewel of French demi-caractère, typical of the Opéra-Comique repertory. Although the opera renounces spoken dialogue, theatrical declamation nevertheless creeps into a few particularly successful scenes. Two magnificent baritone roles – the Marquis and the Devil – oppose each other with the full trappings of Romantic vocality, while Grisélidis makes a noble and introspective heroine, the perfect model of the French soprano.

Vannina Santoni, soprano (Grisélidis)
Julien Dran, tenor (Alain)
Thomas Dolié, baritone (Le Marquis)
Tassis Christoyannis, baritone (Le Diable)
Adèle Charvet, mezzo-soprano (Bertrade)
Orchestre et Chœur Opéra national Montpellier Occitanie
Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor

Vannina Santoni
studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, quickly gaining attention. After her first debuts on stage, she was praised for “immersing herself in her characters with the fervor of an actress” and for her unique blend of “pure lyricism and dramatic fire.” She particularly stood out in 2018 when she triumphed as the title character in La Traviata at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Santoni opens the 2024/25 season as Blanche de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, followed by Micaëla (Carmen) at the Opéra de Versailles, and Marguerite (Faust) at both the Opéra Comique and the Opéra de Lille. She will also perform Verdi’s Requiem with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent important debuts include: Gran Teatre del Liceu as Liu (Turandot), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) at the Zürich Opera and the Opéra de Paris, Mimi (La Bohème) at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, Iphigénie (Iphigénie en Tauride) in Montpellier and the title role in Massenet's Grisélidis at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

Other highlights from recent seasons include the role of Juliette (Roméo et Juliette, Gounod) at the Teatro alla Scala, Manon with the Orchestre National de Lyon under the baton of Daniele Rustioni and Mélisande at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with François-Xavier Roth in the production of Eric Ruf. Also the role of Fiordiligi in Laurent Pelly's new production, with Le Concert d'Astrée conducted by Emmanuelle Haïm at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. In 2021 Vannina created the role of Dona Musica in Marc-André Dalbavie’s new opera Le Soulier de Satin at the Paris Opera. She also sang her first Strauss's 4 Last Songs with the Mahlerian Camerata conducted by Benjamin Garzia at the Vichy Opera.

Julien Dran
was born in Bordeaux, into a family of opera singers and began his musical education at an early age. He studied voice for two years at the Bordeaux Conservatory and earned a residency at the CNIPAL in Marseille for the 2007-2008 season. He made his debut at the Marseille Opera. Following the Clermont-Ferrand International Singing Competition in 2009, he performed the role of Ferrando in Così fan tutte at the Centre Lyrique Clermont Auvergne. During the 2010 / 2011 season, he sang the role of Fenton in Falstaff at the Metz Opera and participated in his first recording (Charpentier’s Didon).

He won First Prize at the Gayarr Competition in Pamplona, Spain, under the presidency of Teresa Berganza. In 2012, he played Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) at the Corte Festival and then sang the role of Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro at the Bordeaux Opera and Edmondo in Manon Lescaut at the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels. He won first prize in the male singer category at the “Paris Opera Awards” at the Salle Gaveau in Paris in January 2013, and then sang the title role of Auber’s Fra Diavolo at the Limoges Opera. His other roles include Fenton at the Massy Opera, Matteo Borsa in Rigoletto at the 2013 Aix Festival, Lindoro (L’Italiana in Algeri), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), and Kudrias (Kátia Kabanová) at the Avignon Opera; Ruodi (Guillaume Tell), Bénédict (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Antinoüs (Pénélope) at the Monnaie in Brussels; Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Centre Lyrique de Clermont Auvergne and the Massy Opera; Gastone (La Traviata), Matteo Borsa (Rigoletto) and the Count of Lerma (Don Carlos) at the Paris Opera; Alfred (Die Fledermaus) and Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi) at the Marseille Opera, Alfredo (La Traviata) with the Opéra Éclaté Company, the Young Horace (Salieri’s Les Horaces) at Versailles and the Theater an der Wien with the Les Siècles orchestra, Gerald (Lakmé) at the Tours Opera, and Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Limoges and Reims. He also created the role of Tibère in the world premiere production of Dominique Gesseney-Rappo’s Carlotta ou la Vaticane at the Fribourg Opera.

Thomas Dolié
Awarded a « Victoire de la Musique Classique » in the « Most promising Artist » category in 2008, Thomas Dolié's career started with Peter Brook, on the French and then world tours of his adaptation of The magic flute.

Thomas Dolié's career has already led him to perform numerous roles like the Count, Figaro, Guglielmo, Papageno, Golaud, Escamillo, Marcello, Ramiro and Fritz, among others, on stages such as the Opéra de Paris, the Opéra de Zurich, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Komische Oper in Berlin, the Opéra de Cologne, the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, the Opéra Comique, and the Operas of Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Strasbourg, Avignon and Versailles.

Giving as much importance to the embodiment of the text or characters as to the music, Thomas Dolié is regularly invited to sing the oratorio, Lieder or opera repertoire in concert version with orchestra, in particular with the CMBV and the Palazetto Bru-Zane, thus contributing to the rediscovery of the French Baroque and Romantic repertoire.

We heard him in L'Enfance du Christ with the Milan Scala Orchestra and the Gürzenich Orchester, Mahler's Lieder eines farhenden Gesellen with the Orchestre national Bordeaux-Aquitaine, Hahn's L'Île du Rêve with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, L'Heure Espagnole with the London Symphony Orchestra, Pelléas et Mélisande with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie of Brême, Werther with the Hungarian National Orchestra, Grisélidis with the Orchestre de l'Opéra de Montpellier, St John's Passion with the Accentus Choir and Insula Orchestra, Beethoven's 9th Symphony with the Orchestre national de Lyon, St. Matthew Passion with Les Musiciens du Louvre, Fauré Requiem with Orchestre national de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln or Insula Orchestra, Brahms Requiem with Orquestra simfònica de Barcelona i nacional de Catalunya.

He has also worked with a lot of baroque ensembles, led by conductors such as Raphaël Pichon, György Vashegyi, René Jacobs, Marc Minkowski, Leonardo García Alarcón, Emmanuelle Haïm, Vincent Dumestre, Hervé Niquet and Christophe Rousset, and has given piano recitals with Olivier Godin, Anne Le Bozec and Susan Manoff.

For the 2024/2025 season : Sophie Gail’s Serenade at the Opera de Rennes, Docteur Miracle at the Theatre du Châtelet, Lully’s Persée with the ensemble Le Concert Spirituel, Haendel’s Resurrezione with the Banquet Céleste, Fauré’s Requiem with Les Siècles, Massenet’s Melodies with the Orchestre of the Opéra de Rouen, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and then Mozart’s Requiem with the Orchestre d’Auvergne, or Rinaldo at the Saint-Céré Festival.

Tassis Christoyannis
is highly sought after for roles in Italian and French opera repertoire. He has also built up an outstanding reputation as a French Melody performer.

Born in Athens, he studied piano, singing, conducting and composition at the Athens Conservatoire.

As a member of the Greek National Opera company, he sang Belcore (l’Elisir d’amore), Don Carlos (Ernani), Papageno, Conte Di Luna (Il Trovatore), Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte), Eugene Onegin etc…

He worked with the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf) singing Posa (Don Carlos), Germont (La Traviata), Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Il Conte (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni, Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Dandini (La Cenerentola), Taddeo (l’Italiana in Algeri), Silvio (I Pagliacci), Guglielmo (Cosi fan Tutte), Ulisse (Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria), Pelléas, Oreste (Iphigenie en Tauride), Eugene Onegin, Hamlet.

Performances in recent years include Germont (La Traviata) at La Monnaie in Brussels, Düsseldorf, Nantes, Geneva and at the Glyndebourne Festival, Figaro at the Staatsoper Berlin, Rouen, Geneva, Vienna and Paris, Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) in Düsseldorf, Tours and Amsterdam, Don Giovanni in Tours and Budapest (cond. Ivan Fischer), Alfonso (La Favorita) in Montpellier, Guglielmo in Las Palmas and Budapest (cond. Ivan Fischer), Posa in Frankfurt and Athens, Ford (Falstaff) in Glyndebourne (V.Jurowski / R.Jones) and Nantes, Oreste (Grétry’s Andromaque) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and in Brussels, Monfort (Les Vêpres Siciliennes) in Geneva, Valentin (Faust) at the Paris Opera, Macbeth in Bordeaux and Athens, Silvio (I Pagliacci) in Paris, Renato (Un Ballo in Maschera) in Tours, Egée (Gossec’s Thésée) in Liège and Versailles, Danaüs (Salieri’s Les Danaïdes) in Versailles, Marcello (La Bohème) in Paris, Cinq-Mars by Gounod in Munich, Vienna and Versailles, Michele and Gianni Schicchi (Il Trittico) in Tours, Duparquet (Ciboulette) in Paris Opéra-Comique, Yeletsky (The Queen of Spades) in Strasbourg, Chorèbe (Les Troyens) in Geneva, Posa (Don Carlo) and Simon Boccanegra, title role, in Bordeaux, Germont (La Traviata) at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Athens, Posa (Don Carlo) in Strasbourg, Macbeth in Athens, Le Timbre d’argent (Saint-Saens) at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, Luna (Il Trovatore) in Frankfurt, Gounod’s Le tribut de Zamora in concert in Munich and Versailles, Ford (Falstaff) on tour with the BFO and Ivan Fisher, a concert tour with Saint-Saens’ mélodies in Switzerland and in Italy, Enrico (Lucia), Simone Boccanegra in Athens, Tarare with Les Talents Lyriques at the Theater an der Wien, Versailles, Philharmonie de Paris, Caen, Jephté with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles in Budapest, Armide with Le Concert Spirituel in Paris, Metz and Bruxelles, Dardanus at the Müpa Budapest, Massenet’s Le Portrait de Manon and Puccini’s Le Villi in concert in Limoges, Don Giovanni in Athènes.

Recently, he has been particularly noticed for his interpretation of Wozzeck in Athens, Sharpless (Madame Butterfly) at the Opéra national du Rhin, Campra‘s Idoménée in Lille and at the Staatsoper Berlin, Iago (Otello) in Athens, Abramane (Zoroastre) with Les Ambassadeurs in Namur, Anvers and Tourcoing, Don Andrès de Rebeira (La Périchole) at the Opéra-Comique-Paris, Hilpérick (Saint-Saëns‘ Frédégonde) in Tours, Scarpia (Tosca) in Athens, Polydore by Jean-Baptiste Stuck (title role) and Werther (title role) in Budapest, Agamemnon (Iphigénie en Aulide) and Abramane (Zoroastre) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Berlioz‘s La Scène héroïque with the Freiburger Kammerorchester, Pollux (Castor et Pollux) in Budapest, Amsterdam and at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Le Diable (Massenet’s Grisélidis) in Montpellier, Nabucco (title role) in Athens, Falstaff (title role) in Lille, Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Spoleto, Budapest, Hamburg and Vicenza with the Budapest Festival Orchestra (cond. Iván Fischer), Adamas et Apollon (Les Boréades) in Budapest, Paris-Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Helsinki and Amsterdam, Coelénus (Atys) in Avignon, Tourcoing and Paris-Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) in Toulouse…

Tassis Christoyannis has performed in a number of French Melody concerts throughout Europe.

In collaboration with the Palazetto Bru Zane, he has recorded melodies by Camille Saint-Saens, Benjamin Godard, Charles Gounod, Félicien David, Edouard Lalo, and Reynaldo Hahn and César Franck (complete melodies).

His projects for the 2024/25 season and the following ones : Agamemnon (Iphigénie en Aulide), Aleko (title role) and Rigoletto (title role in Athens, Mazeppa by Grandval (title role) in concert with Münchner Rundfunkorchester in Munich, Mercure (Psyché by Thomas) à Budapest, Sharpless (Madame Butterfly) at the Festspielhaus Baden Baden and Berliner Philharmonie, Germont (La Traviata) in Geneva…

Adèle Charvet
Young French mezzo soprano Adèle Charvet studied at the Paris National Conservatory with professor Elène Golgevit.

Very passionate about the Song and Lieder repertoire she formed in 2015 a duo with pianist Florian Caroubi with whom she obtained the Mélodie Prize at the International Lied and Song Competition Nadia and Lili Boulanger in Paris. In 2016, they won among others the Grand duo prize of the International Vocal Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. In 2017, Adèle Charvet was awarded the Yves Paternot prize in Verbier for the most outstanding musician of the Academy, and will be invited to perform as a soloist at the Festival.

Adèle’s very first musical experience on stage was in the children’s opera “Brundibár”, by Hans Krása, in which she sang the leading role Pepíček. From this enriching experience, she developed an irrepressible passion for Opera.

She made her debut at the Dutch National Opera, singing the Polovtsian Maiden in Borodin’s “Prince Igor” and sang afterwards in “Carmen” (Mercedes) at Covent Garden, in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” (Rosina) in Bordeaux, “Manon” in Bordeaux and at the Opéra Comique.

Among her future projects, she will be singing “Rigoletto” and “Carmen” at the Paris National Opera, “Roméo et Juliette” in Bordeaux, “Parsifal” (Blumenmädchen) in Toulouse… In concert she will take part in a tour of concerts of “Benvenuto Cellini” with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, she will also perform in a series of concerts with the ensemble Pygmalion under the direction of Raphaël Pichon.

Booklet for Jules Massenet: Grisélidis