Jean-Louis Pichon
Encyclopedia
Jean-Louis Pichon is a French stage director, opera manager and author.
After studying Classics, Jean-Louis Pichon carried out research into theatre. In 1969, he attended a master's thesis devoted to Racine's work. As an actor, it is to Fernand Ledoux that he owes his training which lead on to the world first production of the Monde Cassé from Gabriel Marcel at the Alliance Française Theatre in 1971; Jean-Louis Pichon was both stage director and actor in this play where he embodied Antonnof.
Since then, his double occupation has been developed: he performed in the great classics (Britannicus
, Andromaque
, Le Cid
, Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
, Hamlet
, Les Femmes Savantes
and others) and also played many roles from the temporary theatre: Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Weingarten, Foissy, and others. His activities as a director are mainly fulfilled in the spoken part field: Le Médecin malgré lui by Molière, Le Roi se meurt by Ionecso, Monsieur Barnett by Anouilh, Tartuffe by Molière, Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre, En attendant Godot by Beckett and Le Comédien aux liens by Charles Rambaud.
Jean-Louis Pichon has always had a passion for opera
; that's why he very naturally directed his work into that sphere. First, with Le Testament de la tante Caroline by Roussel, Amadis by Massenet
in 1988, the recording of which won the "Orphée d'Or" awarded by The National Academy of Opera and Thérèse which represented France at the European Festival of Culture in Karlsruhe
before being played with great success in Poland for the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the French Revolution
in 1989. His new production of Richard Cœur de Lion by Grétry was greeted at the opera house in Nancy and Lorraine
.
For the opening of the 1991-1992 season, he signed a new production of Macbeth
by Verdi, which was taken up again at the opera house in Nantes
. His work on the rarely performed operas of Massenet earned him an invitation to the Teatro Massimo
in Palermo
which entrusted him to stage Esclarmonde
in January 1993 (conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni
). During the same year, Jean-Louis Pichon put on Il Pirata
by Bellini
at the opera house in Saint-Étienne
, then in Nancy and Tours before accepting the invitation of the National Opera of Montevideo
(Uruguay
) to stage a new production of Macbeth. In March 1994, he produced a very attractive Turandot
by Puccini. Later on, the Royal Opera of Wallonia asked him to undertake the staging of Carmen
which opened the 1995-1996 season. This performance, taken up in Saint-Etienne, was then presented at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo in April 1996.
The staging of Thaïs
by Massenet, made for the 4th Massenet Festival
in Saint-Etienne in November 1996, was taken up in Nantes in January 1997 before representing France in Cairo
in December 1997 for France-Egypt year. Pierre Médecin appealed to Jean-Louis Pichon for the unexpected return of La Dame Blanche at the Opéra-Comique
in April 1997. Besides, he created a new production of the French version of Lucie de Lammermoor (Lucia di Lammermoor
) for the Martina Franca Festival in July of that same year.
The 1998-1996 season stood out thanks to the revival of La dame blanche
at the Opéra-Comique, of Lucie de Lammermoor in
Saint-Etienne and thanks to a new production of Roma by Massenet at the Martina Franca Festival then, at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo. The 1999-2000 season can be distinguished by the resurrection of Le roi de Lahore
staged at the Massenet Festival and in Bordeaux in November 1999, but also by the revival of Carmen at the Opera Theatre in Saint-Etienne, in Cosenza, in Wallonia and in Marseille.
In 2001, Martina Franca Festival invited him to give a lease of life to Gounod's opera : La reine de Saba
.
In November 2001, Jean-Louis Pichon directed Roma
for the 6th Massenet Festival in Saint-Etienne, followed by Hérodiade
which stood out in the reopening of the Massenet Theatre in Saint-Etienne and was taken up at the Royal Opera in Wallonia in May 2002. Finally, at the end of the season, a new production of Cavalleria rusticana
was shown in Saint-Etienne and in Vichy
.
During the 2002-2003 season, Jean-Louis Pichon created a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor in Avignon
, of La reine de Saba and of Werther
in Saint-Etienne and of Dialogues des Carmélites at the Maestranza in Seville
.
In 2003, during the 7th Massenet Biennial event he directed Sapho
by Massenet.
He would join the Martina Franca Festival in July 2004 for the unearthing of one of Gounod's forgotten masterpieces : Polyeucte.
Among his recent productions, let's cite the revival of Dialogues des Carmélites and a new production of the French version of Salome
in collaboration with Nice's Opera.
In 2005, he presents Dialogues des Carmélites in Santiago of Chile and stages Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
for the 8th Massenet Festival and Werther in Bordeaux
in 2006, then Polyeucte in Saint-Etienne.
In June 2006, Jean-Louis Pichon directed Les pêcheurs de perles
by Bizet with the Shanghai
Opera House before going back to Santiago for a new production of La Gioconda
.
In February 2007, Jean-Louis Pichon staged the most expected Le roi d'Ys
by Lalo at the Opera House in Saint-Etienne.
For the ninth Massenet Festival in November 2007 he put on a new production of Ariane that was greeted with enthusiasm both by the critics and the public.
In March 2008 he will take up Le Roi d’Ys at the Royal Opera in Wallonia before the production of Werther at the French May in Hong Kong
.
Among his international projects : Lakmé
in Cairo, Les Pêcheurs de perles in Santiago of Chile, La bohème
in Monte Carlo
and Liège
.
Jean-Louis Pichon has been in charge of the running of the Opera Theatre in Saint-Étienne since 1983 where he is managing director and has been the artistic director of the Massenet Festival since 1990 (since its inception).
He is Officer in the National Order of Arts.
After studying Classics, Jean-Louis Pichon carried out research into theatre. In 1969, he attended a master's thesis devoted to Racine's work. As an actor, it is to Fernand Ledoux that he owes his training which lead on to the world first production of the Monde Cassé from Gabriel Marcel at the Alliance Française Theatre in 1971; Jean-Louis Pichon was both stage director and actor in this play where he embodied Antonnof.
Since then, his double occupation has been developed: he performed in the great classics (Britannicus
Britannicus (play)
Britannicus is a tragic play by the French dramatist Jean Racine.The play, produced in 1669, was the first time Racine had tried his hand at depicting Roman history. The tale of moral choice takes as its subject Britannicus, the son of the Roman emperor Claudius, and heir to the imperial throne...
, Andromaque
Andromaque
Andromaque is a tragedy in five acts by the French playwright Jean Racine written in alexandrine verse. It was first performed on 17 November 1667 before the court of Louis XIV in the Louvre in the private chambers of the Queen, Marie Thérèse, by the royal company of actors, called "les Grands...
, Le Cid
Le Cid
Le Cid is a tragicomedy written by Pierre Corneille and published in 1636. It is based on the legend of El Cid.The play followed Corneille's first true tragedy, Médée, produced in 1635. An enormous popular success, Corneille's Le Cid was the subject of a heated polemic over the norms of dramatic...
, Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard
The Game of Love and Chance is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. The Game of Love and Chance was first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play, a young woman is visited by her betrothed, whom she does not know. To get a better idea of the type of...
, Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Les Femmes Savantes
Les Femmes Savantes
Les Femmes savantes is a play by Molière in five acts, written in verse. A satire on academic pretention, female education, and préciosité , it was one of his most popular comedies...
and others) and also played many roles from the temporary theatre: Ionesco, Beckett, Pinter, Weingarten, Foissy, and others. His activities as a director are mainly fulfilled in the spoken part field: Le Médecin malgré lui by Molière, Le Roi se meurt by Ionecso, Monsieur Barnett by Anouilh, Tartuffe by Molière, Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre, En attendant Godot by Beckett and Le Comédien aux liens by Charles Rambaud.
Jean-Louis Pichon has always had a passion for opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
; that's why he very naturally directed his work into that sphere. First, with Le Testament de la tante Caroline by Roussel, Amadis by Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
in 1988, the recording of which won the "Orphée d'Or" awarded by The National Academy of Opera and Thérèse which represented France at the European Festival of Culture in Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
before being played with great success in Poland for the commemoration of the Bicentenary of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in 1989. His new production of Richard Cœur de Lion by Grétry was greeted at the opera house in Nancy and Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
.
For the opening of the 1991-1992 season, he signed a new production of Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
by Verdi, which was taken up again at the opera house in Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....
. His work on the rarely performed operas of Massenet earned him an invitation to the Teatro Massimo
Teatro Massimo
The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II....
in Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
which entrusted him to stage Esclarmonde
Esclarmonde
Esclarmonde is an opéra in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont....
in January 1993 (conducted by Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni
Gianandrea Gavazzeni was an Italian pianist, conductor , composer and musicologist.Gavazzeni was born in Bergamo. For almost 50 years, starting from 1948, he was principal conductor at La Scala, Milan, in 1966-68 being its music and artistic director.He had his Metropolitan Opera debut on 11...
). During the same year, Jean-Louis Pichon put on Il Pirata
Il pirata
Il pirata is an opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani from a French translation of the tragic play Bertram, or The Castle of St Aldobrando by Charles Maturin...
by Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
at the opera house in Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...
, then in Nancy and Tours before accepting the invitation of the National Opera of Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
(Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
) to stage a new production of Macbeth. In March 1994, he produced a very attractive Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
by Puccini. Later on, the Royal Opera of Wallonia asked him to undertake the staging of Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
which opened the 1995-1996 season. This performance, taken up in Saint-Etienne, was then presented at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo in April 1996.
The staging of Thaïs
Thaïs (opera)
Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...
by Massenet, made for the 4th Massenet Festival
Massenet Festival
Massenet Festival is a biennale festival of music by French composer, Jules Massenet held at Saint-Étienne, France, close to the area where the composer was born....
in Saint-Etienne in November 1996, was taken up in Nantes in January 1997 before representing France in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in December 1997 for France-Egypt year. Pierre Médecin appealed to Jean-Louis Pichon for the unexpected return of La Dame Blanche at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...
in April 1997. Besides, he created a new production of the French version of Lucie de Lammermoor (Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor
Lucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor....
) for the Martina Franca Festival in July of that same year.
The 1998-1996 season stood out thanks to the revival of La dame blanche
La Dame blanche
La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...
at the Opéra-Comique, of Lucie de Lammermoor in
Saint-Etienne and thanks to a new production of Roma by Massenet at the Martina Franca Festival then, at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo. The 1999-2000 season can be distinguished by the resurrection of Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore
Le roi de Lahore is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 27 April 1877....
staged at the Massenet Festival and in Bordeaux in November 1999, but also by the revival of Carmen at the Opera Theatre in Saint-Etienne, in Cosenza, in Wallonia and in Marseille.
In 2001, Martina Franca Festival invited him to give a lease of life to Gounod's opera : La reine de Saba
La reine de Saba
La reine de Saba is a grand opera in four or five acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient...
.
In November 2001, Jean-Louis Pichon directed Roma
Roma (opera)
Roma is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain based on the play Rome vaincue by Alexandre Parodi. It was first performed at the Opéra in Monte Carlo on February 17, 1912....
for the 6th Massenet Festival in Saint-Etienne, followed by Hérodiade
Hérodiade
Hérodiade is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Paul Milliet and Henri Grémont, based on the novella Hérodias by Gustave Flaubert...
which stood out in the reopening of the Massenet Theatre in Saint-Etienne and was taken up at the Royal Opera in Wallonia in May 2002. Finally, at the end of the season, a new production of Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
was shown in Saint-Etienne and in Vichy
Vichy
Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It belongs to the historic province of Bourbonnais.It is known as a spa and resort town and was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944.The town's inhabitants...
.
During the 2002-2003 season, Jean-Louis Pichon created a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...
, of La reine de Saba and of Werther
Werther
Werther is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann based on the German epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe....
in Saint-Etienne and of Dialogues des Carmélites at the Maestranza in Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
.
In 2003, during the 7th Massenet Biennial event he directed Sapho
Sapho (opera)
Sapho is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on the novel of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. It was first performed at the Opéra Comique in Paris on November 27, 1897 with Emma Calvé as Fanny Legrand.It is a charming and effective...
by Massenet.
He would join the Martina Franca Festival in July 2004 for the unearthing of one of Gounod's forgotten masterpieces : Polyeucte.
Among his recent productions, let's cite the revival of Dialogues des Carmélites and a new production of the French version of Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
in collaboration with Nice's Opera.
In 2005, he presents Dialogues des Carmélites in Santiago of Chile and stages Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Maurice Léna. It was first performed in Monte Carlo on 18 February 1902.-History:...
for the 8th Massenet Festival and Werther in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
in 2006, then Polyeucte in Saint-Etienne.
In June 2006, Jean-Louis Pichon directed Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run...
by Bizet with the Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
Opera House before going back to Santiago for a new production of La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
.
In February 2007, Jean-Louis Pichon staged the most expected Le roi d'Ys
Le roi d'Ys
is an opera in three acts and five tableaux by the French composer Édouard Lalo, to a libretto by Édouard Blau, based on the old Breton legend of the drowned city of Ys, which was, according to the legend, the capital of the kingdom of Cornouaille. It premiered at the Opéra Comique in Paris on 7...
by Lalo at the Opera House in Saint-Etienne.
For the ninth Massenet Festival in November 2007 he put on a new production of Ariane that was greeted with enthusiasm both by the critics and the public.
In March 2008 he will take up Le Roi d’Ys at the Royal Opera in Wallonia before the production of Werther at the French May in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
.
Among his international projects : Lakmé
Lakmé
Lakmé is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. Delibes wrote the score during 1881–82 with its first performance on 14 April 1883 at the Opéra Comique in Paris. Set in British India in the mid 19th century, Lakmé is based on the 1880 novel...
in Cairo, Les Pêcheurs de perles in Santiago of Chile, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
and Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
.
Jean-Louis Pichon has been in charge of the running of the Opera Theatre in Saint-Étienne since 1983 where he is managing director and has been the artistic director of the Massenet Festival since 1990 (since its inception).
He is Officer in the National Order of Arts.