Chelsea Opera Group present Édouard Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys, a concert performance in French at the Cadogan Hall, London on Sunday 30 March 6.30pm
Le roi d’Ys (The King of 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 May 1888.
Lalo’s opera presents us with a Breton Atlantis: the mythical city of Ys, a glorious outpost in the sea off the coast of Brittany, protected by a wall and a gate with only one key.
Margared, the daughter of the King, becomes jealous over the marriage of her beloved knight Mylio to her sister Rozenn. She hands the key to the gate to Karnac, an enemy of the city, with disastrous consequences and divine intervention.
Audiences of the day delighted in the dramatic plot and ecstatic music, and it was performed hundreds of times across France and internationally over the decade following its premiere in 1888.
For this performance, conductor Paul Wingfield makes a welcome return to Chelsea Opera Group after his critically acclaimed performance of La clemenza di Tito in 2023.
Concert performance in French with English surtitles
5.15pm: Pre-concert talk by Dr Bruno Bower
Duration: approx. 2hours 30mins (incl. interval)
Cast:
Le roi d’Ys – Thomas D Hopkinson
Margared, the King’s daughter – Maria Schellenberg
Rozenn, the King’s daughter- Hye-Youn Lee
Prince Karnac – Alexey Gusev
Mylio, a knight – Luis Gomes
Jahel, the King’s herald and master of the palace – Ross Cumming
St Corentin – Edward Jowle
Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra
Chelsea Opera Group Chorus