Monaco (AFP)
Italian diva Cecilia Bartoli has agreed to head the Monte Carlo Opera on January 1, 2023, replacing Jean-Louis Grinda, artistic director of Chorégies d'Orange, the Monegasque government announced on Tuesday.
"Cecilia Bartoli will become the first woman to run the Monte-Carlo Opera," said Princess Caroline, chairman of the board of directors, quoted in a statement issued after a press briefing.
The soprano will retain the direction of the "Musicians of the Prince", an event whose artistic direction she has been in the Principality since 2016, with more than 70 concerts, recordings and performances throughout Europe. She will also be free to continue her career as a singer, while Mr. Grinda will continue to work on productions, according to the release.
Earlier this year, Mr Grinda, who had been in office since July 2007, had expressed his desire to hand over to "someone with new ideas for opera in the Principality", Princess Caroline justified.
"Taking the direction of the Monte-Carlo Opera is a new step (...) but also the realization of a dream," commented the singer, who is three years to prepare for his first season.
"I gave my debut at Monte-Carlo in The Barber of Seville in 1989, at the very beginning of my career, and since then I have felt attached to Monaco.The Salle Garnier is probably one of the opera houses the most beautiful in the world, its dimensions and its acoustics are perfect, a real gem ", she said, ensuring overflowing ideas" as the first day ".
© 2019 AFP