The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris has announced its 2026/27 season, and the Royal Opera House has a conspicuous presence.
The London Connection
Oliver Mears, Director of Opera at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, will direct Puccini's Manon Lescaut at the Champs-Élysées from November 2 to 15, 2026. The production is a co-production with the Royal Opera and Opéra Nice Côte d'Azur, with Lorenzo Passerini conducting.
This represents half of the Champs-Élysées' new opera productions for the season — a remarkable level of involvement by a single external institution.
Why It Matters
The operatic world runs on co-productions. They spread costs, extend the life of productions, and allow smaller houses to present work at a level they could not finance alone. But the scale of ROH involvement at the Champs-Élysées goes beyond routine cost-sharing.
What we are seeing is the beginning of a structural relationship between London and Paris opera — one in which ROH creative talent effectively shapes a significant portion of the Champs-Élysées' lyric programming.
The Full Season
The Champs-Élysées will present four new productions in total, including Les Pêcheurs de perles, Rinaldo, and a participatory La Fille du régiment aimed at younger audiences.
The season reflects a house that is positioning itself as a complement to — rather than a competitor with — the Opéra National de Paris. Where the Opera goes big (Sorey, Bieito's Ring), the Champs-Élysées offers intimacy, co-production partnerships, and repertoire that benefits from its smaller scale.
The Bigger Picture
At a time when American orchestras are skipping London and European institutions are reconfiguring their partnerships, the ROH-Champs-Élysées collaboration suggests that the future of performing arts may lie in institutional alliances that cross national borders.
Whether this particular alliance deepens or remains a one-season experiment will depend on how audiences in Paris respond to London's creative vision — and whether the ROH sees Paris as a strategic partner or merely a convenient venue for productions that need a second life.
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