Les Cadets: birth of a Gers opera company in Lectoure

The main public and private partners of Nuits Musicales en Armagnac (NMA), elected officials, artists and journalists covering the festival were present. Known for more than half a century as the main classical music festival in the Gers, the NMA is opening a new chapter by launching a Gers opera company.

The Compagnie des Cadets is made up of artists performing on the biggest national and international stages, who are keen to disseminate lyrical art in the territory where they grew up.

Four areas of action

The baritone and artistic director Philippe Estèphe presented the missions of this company, whose four axes are the diffusion of light lyrical shows, the training of young artists with the Lyric Academy of Cadets, the awakening of the youngest to all the arts through school actions and creative workshops. It is also about putting lyrical art at the service of older people, particularly in nursing homes.

The beginnings of the Cadets are more than promising, with already more than 70 events to come: shows throughout Occitania, three different Academy sessions from 2024, around thirty lyrical concerts in nursing homes and school workshops planned across the Department.

Help from the Crédit Agricole Foundation

This launch was an opportunity for the Cadets and the Crédit Agricole Pyrénées-Gascogne Foundation to sign a three-year agreement to help finance the company’s educational and solidarity activities.

Soprano Clémence Garcia, member of the new Gers troupe, concluded this event musically with extracts from Strauss, Grieg and Puccini.

Next meeting of the Cadets: the creation of “Papapapapa” at the Théâtre d’Eauze on Sunday May 12, 2024. Based on extracts from various Mozart operas and a text rewritten for the occasion, the Cadets imagined this what has become of the emblematic couple of the “Magic Flute”, Papageno and Papagena, ten years after their promise to always love each other and have many children…