LÉO DELIBES: JEAN DE NIVELLE
Concert-format opera performance in three acts, with one intermission, in French
Jean de Nivelle Cyrille Dubois
Arlette Mélissa Petit
Simone Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur
Diane Judith van Wanroij
Le Comte de Charolais Tassis Christoyannis
Malicorne François Rougier
Beautreillis Jean-Philippe Mc Clish
Le Page Isolin Juliette Mey
Saladin / Un Héraut / Un Vieillard Adrien Fournaison
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)
Conductor: György Vashegyi
Co-production of the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.
A recording will be made as part of the “Opéra français” series – and released on the Bru Zane Label. The score was published by Heugel and revised by the Palazzetto Bru Zane.
It is an important objective of the Hungarian National Philharmonic’s Opera season ticket to interpret not only popular hits of the genre, but also to present the audience with a rare and valuable work worth discovering from time to time. For the 2025/2026 season, the historically themed opera Jean de Nivelle, completed in 1880 by the composer of Coppélia and Lakmé Léo Delibes, will revealed to the Müpa Budapest audience in a concert-format performance conducted by György Vashegyi and with an international cast comprising singing talent exclusively from outside Hungary. The title role will be portrayed by Cyrille Dubois, while the performance is a co-production by the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.
Léo Delibes, the French romantic contemporary of the German romantic Brahms was born in 1836 and passed away in 1891. A student of the Conservatoire de Paris under Adolphe Adam, he was most in his element as a composer of works of musical theatre. He was productive in the genres of both ballet and opera, with three works to his name in the former and five in the latter, and an immortal audience favourite in each: Coppélia (1870) and Lakmé (1883).
His three-act opera Jean de Nivelle, which was written between the two in 1880 and tells the story of a 15th century French historical figure, was successful at the time of its premiere but yearns to be rediscovered today. Under the baton of György Vashegyi, the Kossuth Prize-winning chief music director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic, it will be heard here in a concert-format performance in French with an international cast featuring the superb French tenor Cyrille Dubois in the title role. As was the case with many previous efforts to plug gaps in the repertoire, the production is the result of a collaboration between the Hungarian National Philharmonic and Palazzetto Bru Zane.
