L’hôtel d’Ecquevilly
For those who have just tuned in, let me point out that the Hôtel d’Ecquevilly is not a hotel in the modern sense of the word, but rather a private Read More …
Category: France
Musée Carnavalet
This free museum in the Marais district belongs to the City of Paris and is devoted to the history of the city from its earliest beginnings to present times. In Read More …
Ten days, eight operas, seven venues
The amazing thing about my visit to Paris in June 2006 was that in ten days I saw eight operas at seven different venues. As I wrote at the time, Read More …
Gluck at the Opéra Garnier
In terms of the number of seats that they can actually put on sale for any given evening, around 1,750, this is only the third largest opera house in Paris Read More …
Bartók at the Théâtre du Châtelet
The Place du Châtelet on the right bank of the Seine is unique in that it is flanked by two large and (from a distance) identical-looking theaters, both of which Read More …
Mozart at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
This theater is not on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, as I used to think, but is several blocks from there on Avenue Montaigne near the Place de l’Alma on the Read More …
Rossini at the Opéra-Comique
In 1875 Bizet’s Carmen had its world premiere here at the Opéra-Comique. Also Debussy’s Pelleas et Mélisande and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann had their world premieres here, so this is Read More …
La Carmencita at the Athénée
This historic theater, the Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, was built in the 1890s and has been a subsidized public theater since 1982. It has a small orchestra pit for musical productions, Read More …
Mozart in the rain
It only rained once during the ten days I was in Paris in June 2006, and that was — you guessed it — ten minutes before show time at an Read More …
Opera arias in the Place des Vosges
On my last evening in Paris in June 2006 I was walking to the Opéra Bastille, feeling somewhat sorry for myself because I had already turned in my bicycle to Read More …