It’s a surprise that comes at just the right time for the end-of-year holidays. La Voix des Forges, with the company of the Chambre à airs, is exported from the remains of Jaegerthal to settle at the Münsterhof in Strasbourg. The performance hall will host, on January 12, 14 and 21, a pocket opera festival created by Céline Mellon, director of La Voix des Forges, and her teams.
The idea was born after the success of the last edition of the festival in Jaegerthal, which notably staged the opera Carmen. La Voix des Forges wants to invest in a winter season during which its programming is at a standstill. “The Forges de Jaegerthal, in winter, do not offer an ideal setting for programming a second festival. There is no heating and the dirt floor is impassable,” explains Céline Mellon.
Mozart, Verdi and Rossini in the spotlight
To “reward a loyal audience”, this new pocket opera festival is part of a “desire to democratize” opera. “We are doing everything to reinvent and make opera accessible in our performances and this will also be the case on the Strasbourg stage,” explains Céline Mellon.
For the first performance in Strasbourg, on Sunday January 12 at 5 p.m., the pocket opera festival will offer The Magic flute by Mozart. “It’s symbolic for us because it was our first performance at Les Forges in 2019,” smiles the festival director. The second, on Tuesday January 14 at 8 p.m., will focus on Rigoletto by Verdi, already performed at Les Forges in the summer of 2024. This winter festival will close on Tuesday January 21 at 8 p.m., with The Barber of Seville by Rossini performed by four singers and an instrumental septet.
A self-produced test festival
This winter festival serves as a test for La Voix des Forges. “We want to see if a winter festival can operate outside of the Forges de Jaegerthal, and attract a new audience,” confides Céline Mellon. The latter has also refused to call on public aid and affirms that the festival is “in total self-production”. A challenge which means that only ticket sales will pay the artists.
To offer this festival in Strasbourg and try to reduce costs, the performances are adapted with “shorter formulas and reworked dialogues”, in collaboration with artistic director Rémi Studer.
The pocket opera festival. January 12, 14 and 21 at the Münsterhof in Strasbourg. Prices: 20 euros per adult, 14 euros for under 18s. Reservation on www.billetweb.fr/festival-la-chambre-a-airs
