29th June

Concert will begin at 18:00 hours GMT

Massenet's 'Don Quichotte' with Van Horn, Arquez and Dupuis from Paris

Massenet's 'Don Quichotte' is an opera in five acts to a French libretto by Henri Caïn. It relates only indirectly to the great novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. The immediate inspiration was Le chevalier de la longue figure, a play by the poet Jacques Le Lorrain, first performed in Paris in 1904. In this version of the story, the simple farm girl Aldonza (Dulcinea) of the original novel becomes the more sophisticated Dulcinée, a flirtatious local beauty inspiring the infatuated old man's exploits. Performers:

Gaëlle Arquez: La Belle Dulcinée.
Christian Van Horn: Don Quichotte.
Etienne Dupuis: Sancho.
Four Dulcinée's lovers: Emy Gazeilles: Pedro/ Marine Chagnon: Garcias/ Samy Camps: Rodriguez/
Nicholas Jones: Juan.

Opéra national de Paris Choir and Orchestra. Conductor: Patrick Fournillier.

Recorded 23 May.