Appointed to run the in 1986,
Jean-Louis Pichon invited
Jean-Pierre Jacquillat to become musical director. Shortly afterwards, the elderly widow of a chief electrician at the Théâtre Eden handed over a mass of rare vocal scores, which included
Amadis by Massenet. Intrigued, Pichon obtained a conductor's score for Jacquillat, but the conductor was killed in a road accident that August and a replacement was needed urgently. Eventually Pichon found Patrick Fournillier, then head of the Orchestre d'Auvergne. The revival of
Amadis in January 1988 was a great success, broadcast by Radio-France which led to a commercial issue with the orchestra and chorus of the Opéra de Paris. As part of the bicentenary celebration of the French revolution,
Thérèse was staged in 1989 in several houses, Monte-Carlo, then Saint-Etienne, (whose production was selected to represent France at the European Festival of culture in Karlsruhe), then Łodz and Zagreb. In 2001 the subject was « Le livret d’opéra au temps de Massenet » (published as a book in 2002), The L'Esplanade opera house in Saint-Étienne burned down (by arson) in September 1998, and the originally planned co-production of
Le Roi de Lahore with the
Opéra de Bordeaux was first seen in that city before being staged in Saint-Etienne the following year in a temporary theatre on the site of the Foire-Exposition. Over the years, the following Massenet operas have been presented: •
Cléopâtre and the oratorio
La Vierge (1990) •
Esclarmonde,
Grisélidis (concert) and the oratorio
La Terre Promise (1992) •
Panurge, and
Le Cid (concert) (1994) •
Thaïs (1996) •
Le roi de Lahore and ballets
Le Carillon, and
Le Cid (ballet music) (1999) •
Roma (November 2001) •
Sapho (2003) •
Le jongleur de Notre-Dame (2005), preceded by the ballet
Le Cigale, contemporary with the opera •
Ariane (2007) •
Manon (2009) •
Cendrillon and
Le mage (October/November 2012) ==Recordings==