THE FRENCH TOUCH
ENCOUNTER CONCERT
OCTOBER 9th, 2026 - 8:00 PM
VILLA MARMOTTAN - BOULOGNE BILLANCOURT
After the Napoleonic era, Paris remained one of Europe's leading cultural capitals. The two leading masters of early 19th-century Italian opera visited Paris and composed for the city at the request of an audience increasingly enamored with the dramatic flourishes of bel canto. Rossini and Donizetti permanently transformed French opera with their vision of drama and comedy. Their writing finally brought together the French declamatory style and Italian virtuosity in a form that would become, in the works of Meyerbeer and Halévy, the "Grand Opéra à la française." In this masterclass, soprano Annick Massis, a specialist and iconic performer of this repertoire, guides the soloists of the Opera Fuoco Young Artists Program through the formidable intricacies of masterpieces such as Rossini's Le Comte Ory and Guillaume Tell, and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and La Fille du régiment.
ARTISTS
Soloists and former soloists of the Opera Fuoco Young Artists Program
Annick Massis - Speaker
David Stern - Speaker / Artistic Direction
Sarah Ristoccelli - Pianist