CASTOR ET POLLUX Comes to the Paris Opera

Castor et Pollux will come to the Paris Opera this month. Performances run at  Palais Garnier from 20 January to 23 February 2025.

A return to its roots for Castor et Pollux, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s lyric tragedy first performed in 1737 at the Académie royale and inspired by the mythological episode of the Gemini.

Rarely performed in its original version – the score was reworked by Rameau himself in 1754 –, this daring work plays on contrasts and expressiveness, as in the famous “Tristes apprêts”. The aria is sung by Télaïre mourning the death of her fiancé Castor, killed in battle, before her twin brother Pollux descends into the Underworld to ask his father, Jupiter, to bring him back to life.

While this opera celebrates brotherly love, its prologue poses an essential question for director Peter Sellars: how do you stop a war and its attendant hatred and resentment?

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