La Plage 23-24

Chop chop! 45 minutes before the bells call you into the house, it’s time to refresh your memory and go back to the beginnings of the opera: we offer a brief introduction to remind you what the work is all about and what kind of magical, apocalyptic, critical or hyper-realistic worlds the people behind the production have in store for you. Lickety-split, there’s just enough time to grab some bubbly before you take your seats under the star-studded ceiling of a thousand and one operas!
 
45 minutes before each opera or ballet performance
Free admittance with performance tickets
In the main foyer of the GTG or in the foyer of the alternative performance venue

A slice of life, a slice of laughter and a slice of music to garnish the canapé that comes with our urban apéritif! Have a spritz or a vermouth while we supply the entertaining company. Apéropéra is a relaxed, fresh and unstuffy way to (re)discover a composer, a work, a topic, miles away from the usual lectures you get before the performance. Get ready for some good stories, from the past and especially the present. And in between, there’ll be live music from the show (or in the same vein) performed by artists on the production!
 
María de Buenos Aires 19.10.2023
Elements 9.11.2023
Der Rosenkavalier 7.12.2023
Justice 18.1.2024
Idomeneo, re di Creta 8.2.2024
Saint François d’Assise 21.3.2024
Outsider 2.5.2024
Roberto Devereux 23.5.2024
 
Thurdays From 6.30PM
Entrance fee CHF 25.-
First drink included (except cocktails and champagne)
In the foyer of the GTG
 
Sponsored by

Let’s try a different approach to opera and ballet…
With every Grand Théâtre production this season, there will be a Saturday morning of creative workshops related to the upcoming opera or ballet. Song, dance, drama, text, visual arts, it’s all there waiting to surprise you and help you express yourself: voice, stage, theatre and image professionals will guide you through the many aspects of opera, the art that has everything!
 
Don Carlos 23.9.2023
Elements 11.11.2023
Der Rosenkavalier 9.12.2023
Justice 13.1.2024
Idomeneo, re di Creta 17.2.2024
Saint François d’Assise 23.3.2024
Roberto Devereux 25.5.2024
 
Saturdays At 11AM
Entry CHF 15.–
CHF 10.– (up to 12 years old)
Various meeting points

Haven’t you ever wondered what it’s like on the other side when the curtain falls on a performance? How does all the technical machinery work? What do the stagehands have to do to get things back into working order? Or maybe just bump into one of the stars of the show? So let us raise the curtain on all this for you. With every production, we give our patrons an opportunity to come backstage with us, raise their eyes to the flies and take a good look at what’s behind the sets. It may be dark in the wings but there’s a whole lot going on there! And because it’s a busy place, we can’t really do this more than once per performance run. You will need to book your visit beforehand, so don’t delay!
A member of the theatre staff who can answer all your questions and show you some of the very impressive features of our opera house takes you backstage for free.
 
Don Carlos 24.9.2023
María de Buenos Aires 3.11.2023
Elements 21.11.2023
Der Rosenkavalier 17.12.2023
Justice 26.1.2024
Idomeneo, re di Creta 25.2.2024
Saint François d’Assise 14.4.2024
Roberto Devereux 4.6.2024
 
The “En coulisse” tour lasts about 20 minutes, starts 15 minutes after the performance, is free of charge on prior reservation with our box office service by email [email protected].

The operas of the 23–24 season will be the subject of a very comprehensive conference on the work, its libretto, context and music, a few days before the first performance, always at the same time, 6.30 pm, by the Association genevoise des amis de l’opéra et du ballet.
These conferences take place at the Théâtre de l’Espérance.
 
Don Carlos 12.9.2023
María de Buenos Aires 17.10.2023
Der Rosenkavalier 12.12.2023
Justice 16.1.2024
Idomeneo, re di Creta 13.2.2024
Saint François d’Assise 10.4.2024
Roberto Devereux 28.5.2024
 
At 6:30PM
Théâtre de l’Espérance
 
Association genevoise des amis de l’opéra et du ballet
7D, chemin Pré-Marquis
1241 Puplinge
+41 22 349 83 60
[email protected]
amisdelopera.ch
 
In partnership with
 

Or when the opera house becomes a performance and you are the performers. As soon as you step inside, you get swept up like a modern-day Cinderella in a swirl of sounds and sights that carry you from one space to the next, from a highball to a cocktail, from midnight to the wee hours, because at the Grand Théâtre, three times per season, at 3 a.m., we turn the coach into a pumpkin and the glass slippers change into sneakers that won’t damage the beautiful parquet floors they’re dancing on. A far-out party for people with open minds. We know that our reputation as a posh place for stuffy classical music fans precedes us. But for three nights next season, we’ve curated a few line-ups of badass DJs to come and rip up the house. And some of your prejudices against us, while they’re at it. Three times per season, the Grand Théâtre stays up way past its bedtime. In November, to open the season, in February to drive the winter away and in May, to celebrate summer. It’ll also be a good time to invite some of our neighbours and cronies over and open up to other genres.
 
Late Night #1 25.11.2023
Late Night #2 2.2.2024
Late Night #3 10.5.2024
 
Entry CHF 25.—
From 10PM to 2AM
At the GTG

For one night, come and live in the Grand Théâtre, we’ll take you from the ceiling to the stage, from maze to maze, along the melodies of yesteryear and sweet polyphonies. Come and dream under the lights of the chandeliers and the stars, we will sing you to sleep until the early morning, and then what a wake-up call! And bring your things:

• sleeping bag or other blanket
• mattress more or less soft
• pillow
• flashlight
• toilet bag
• teddy bear
• …

 
Programme to be announced
13.4.24
At the GTG

To celebrate the Fête de la Musique together with the Grand Théâtre, we’re inviting you to sit with us under the stars. Not those that sparkle by the hundreds in Jacek Stryjeński’s gold and silver ceiling in our auditorium, the real ones that await us al fresco, as night starts falling on the parc des Eaux-Vives. Come and experience, free of charge, on a giant screen, our production of Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires.
 
Screening of María de Buenos Aires
Free admission
June 2024
Parc des Eaux-Vives
 
Sponsored by

With the kids or just wander in, the doors are wide open. A quick once-over with the mop and broom and we throw the windows and doors wide open to let the sounds of our busy Sunday morning out onto the street for all to hear. This is your chance to come in and check us out. You can watch the Chorus rehearsing a performance. There will be lots of activities specially designed for this opening weekend: stuff for the kids (make-up, drawing, games in the theatre), food and wine tasting and tours for grown-ups, discovery circuits for the eternally curious, in short, never a dull moment in our company. And this is just the trial run for other festive weekends we are planning this season along the same format!
 
Free admission
10.9.2023
From 11am to 6pm
At the GTG

B is for Bel canto and Bellini (also a very nice drink), Bizet and Berlioz, Britten and his Billy Budd and, of course, B is for Brunch! Will you be alone or tête-à-tête, will you be a bunch of boisterous brunchers or are you looking to bring your babbling brood? The tables are set for a Grand Brunch in Geneva’s most beautiful ballroom, where the gods and nymphs of legend beam their benign, but blasé, smiles down on you from above. Eight Sundays per season, eight chances for a nice lie-in, eight chances to add some beautiful music to your eggs benedict: we have a Sunday buffet ready to satisfy the hungriest opera and ballet buffs! As space is limited in our Main Foyer, we kindly ask you to reserve your table beforehand.
 
8.10.2023
19.11.2023
10.12.2023
21.1.2024
18.2.2024
17.3.2024
21.4.2024
12.5.2024
9.6.2024
 
Sundays from 11am
Entrance CHF 70.–
CHF 20.– (up to 12 years old)
In the foyer of the GTG

What is the connection between the Duke of Brunswick and the Grand Théâtre? Between the Valkyrie and the great fire? Between a Second Empire façade and a 50s-60s theatre? Nine times a year, we let visitors into the bowels of the huge ship of the Place de Neuve, navigating between opera trivia and heritage curiosities. From the Atrium to the Milky Way, from the marble of the entrance to the gold of the fireplaces, discover this emblematic building, guided by our in-house connoisseurs, who will tell you all its secrets.
 
18.9.2023
16.10.2023
20.11.2023
11.12.2023
15.1.2024
19.2.2024
18.3.2024
15.4.2024
13.5.2024
17.6.2024
 
Visits at 12:30PM
Duration: 55 minutes
Entrance 15 CHF / 10 CHF (until 12 years old)

Because we love putting the Grand Théâtre in afterwork mode, we will be trying out something new this season. The Apérovisite: a hybrid between the traditional Guided Tour and the Apéropéra. Marvel at our Murano glass or Léon Gaud’s gaudy frescoes, sure, but have a drink with that. Our marble halls and our gilded chimneypieces are so much more thrilling with a glass of Viognier. Apérovisite will only take place three times this season, so save those dates!
 
12.10.23
11.1.24
25.4.24
 
Pricing on request
6:30PM
[email protected]

Would you like to discover the Milky Way with your colleagues or have the gilt and chandeliers in the foyer for you and your friends? How about a team-building session like no other or a taste of the world of opera? On the other side, we have all kinds of private guided tours of the Grand Théâtre and/or its set and costume workshops. Or even made-to-measure artistic workshops facilitated by professional singers.
 
Contact : [email protected]

Grâce à nos partenariats avec École et Culture pour les établissements du Département de l’instruction publique du Canton de Genève et avec le service culturel de l’AGEP pour les écoles privées genevoises, chaque saison plus de 100 classes de la 1P à la 4e de collège venues de tout le canton (et même parfois au-delà), découvrent l’art lyrique et le ballet avec le Grand Théâtre Jeunesse.
 
Partenariats, workshops, visites découvertes, projets, chaque saison nous travaillons avec des établissements de l’enseignement supérieur tels que la HEAD, la HEM, l’HETS ou encore l’Unité de musicologie de l’Université de Genève. N’hésitez pas à consulter la rubrique actualités de notre site pour découvrir ces collaborations et surtout à nous contacter pour construire de nouveaux partenariats, workhops, visites et projets !
 
Pour les établissements du Département de l’Instruction publique du Canton, la brochure des propositions et le formulaire d’inscription en ligne seront disponibles à partir du 13 juin, ainsi que sur le site d’École et Culture. Les attributions des parcours se feront à partir du 12 septembre 2023.
 
Pour les établissements privés, la brochure des propositions sera disponible en ligne à partir du 13 juin, ainsi que sur le site de l’AGEP.
 
Contact : [email protected]

Dans les SAPE – Structures d’accueil de la petite enfance –, les activités pédagogiques et culturelles sont des moments privilégiés qui permettent de s’épanouir et de trouver ses repères. Parce que l’année avant l’entrée à l’école constitue un moment charnière pour les enfants, le Grand Théâtre a conçu en collaboration avec des professionnels de la petite enfance un programme de découverte de l’opéra spécialement adressé aux 3-4 ans, La Fabrique Opéra.
 
Après une première rencontre avec une chanteuse dans leur établissement, les tout-petits découvriront, confortablement installés dans le foyer lyrique en compagnie de leurs éducatrices et éducateurs, la magie de ce drôle d’endroit où l’on chante et où l’on se costume.
 
Contact : [email protected]

Partenariats, workshops, visites découvertes, projets, chaque saison nous travaillons avec plusieurs établissements de l’enseignement supérieur tels que la HEAD, la HEM ou encore l’Unité de musicologie de l’Université de Genève. N’hésitez pas à consulter la rubrique actualités de notre site pour découvrir ces collaborations !

If you work in a civil society organization or a structure linked to disability or to the integration of asylum seekers and you want to introduce opera and ballet to your participants or beneficiaries, feel free to contact us. We can build a project suited to your purpose that takes into account your needs and our availability.

Our “Power Games” this season will naturally be played out in our productions but will also feature in many joint and special projects and events. With our partners the Orchestre de la Suisse romande and the Orchestre de chambre de Genève of course, but also with Antigel, the Bains des Pâquis, La Bâtie- Festival de Genève, the Cinémas du Grütli, Les Créatives, La Comédie, the Geneva Camerata, Electron Festival, the Théâtre de Vidy or even Vernier-Culture. The more the merrier!

In the bitter cold of a Polish winter, men are dying in strange circumstances. Janina, a delightfully eccentric pensioner with a passion for astrology and poetry, leads the investigation. She soon suspects that the animals in the forest are planning their revenge. Has Nature decided to take up arms? Simon McBurney adapts Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, a sharp and inventive thriller by Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature, for the stage. The celebrated British actor and director brings his creative genius and technophile verve to bear on a story, language and subject matter that are as contemporary as it gets.
 
Theatre by Simon McBurney
From October 11 to 21, 2023
Comédie de Genève
 
In partnership with
 

The end of night. After a party, a sister and brother meet again. Their fusional bond, against a background of domestic violence, was brutally torn apart by a tragedy 20 years earlier. EXTRA LIFE deconstructs the sensory experience of this moment through dissociation games that meticulously articulate music, space, light, choreography and acting.
An architect of feelings, Gisèle Vienne likes to unfold them to better diffract their multiple facets. And then the pure density of the moment emerges from the stage.
 
Theatre by Gisèle Vienne
From February 21 to 24, 2024
As part of Festival Antigel
Comédie de Genève
 
In partnership with
 

Le Jardin des Délices is a dialogue with five hundred years ago when Hieronymus Bosch was painting his Garden of Earthly Delights, a masterpiece of art history with infinite interpretations. Obie Award-winning French director Philippe Quesne’s Le Jardin des Délices is the many-layered picaresque narrative of a group of humans gathered in a place obviously removed from the world and who busy themselves producing, literally and cinematographically, their utopia: a free life, without separation, without distinction, in which beings and species live together in perfect harmony. As in the late Middle Ages, this fable is situated in a period of transition, as narratives and know-hows are shifting.
 
Theatre by Philippe Quesne
From September 26 to October 4, 2023
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
 
In partnership with
 

For Antigone in the Amazon, Milo Rau and his team traveled to the Brazilian state of Pará, where the forests are burning due to expanding soy monocultures and where nature is being devoured by capitalism. On an occupied piece of land, in collaboration with MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra), the world’s largest landless workers’ movement, they create an allegorical play about the violent devastations and displacements caused by the modern state, which places private property above the traditional right to land.
 
Theatre by Milo Rau
From June 19 to 22, 2024
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
 
In partnership with
 

After the success of Julien et Jean-Paul’s animalistic expeditions, and the equally great success of Shostakovich’s pizzicati interspersed with elegies and D-string races, the Grand Théâtre will lay down its beach towels and sport its swimming trunks at Bains des Pâquis to expose the corridors of power and celebrate the power of music.
 
Ena Pongrac mezzo-soprano
Jean-Paul Pruna piano
 
August 9, 2023 at 6AM
Bains des Pâquis
 
In partnership with

Sacred Drones. The new minimalist muse, an American musician in Stockholm, offers us a concert on the great organ of the Geneva cathedral of Saint-Pierre. Her music is full of harmonic textures that brood in repetitive movements and extended durations; it emits emotional colours with stunning depths of field. You can get ready for the event by listening to with début LP The Sacrificial Code (2019) for this never seen or heard experience: Bâtie joining forces with the Grand Théâtre at the Cathedral.
 
September 3, 2023 at 7PM
As part of La Bâtie – Festival de Genève
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre
 
In partnership with
 

 

The truth is we aren’t too fond of seeing opera at the movies. We’d rather have it live on stage in all its vibrating emotional loudness. But at the opera, we do like a good movie. In fact, we’re just as keen to watch one as our neighbours at the Cinémas du Grütli, Geneva’s art house cinema. So we developed this new format, Cinéopéra, as both a tribute to and a discovery of the silver screen, where four opera and ballet greats who will be on stage with us this season choose their favorite film to view and discuss. Four very different artists, all exceptional, using film to zoom in (or out) on the productions they designed for us, in an amusing play of intertextuality and inter-referentiality. And perhaps one day, it’ll be hard to tell whether you’re at the opera or at the movies…
 
Daniele Finzi Pasca
October 21, 2023 — 6PM
Lost in La Mancha,
Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe, 93 min, 2002
 
Christoph Waltz
December 2, 2023 — 6PM
Sweet Smell of Success,
Alexander Mackendrick, 96 min, 1957
 
Leonardo García Alarcón
February 10, 2024 — 6PM
Prova d’orchestra,
Federico Fellini, 70 min, 1978
 
Adel Abdessemed
April 6, 2024 — 3PM
Le Grand Jeu,
Jacques Feyder, 110 min, 1934
 
Les Cinémas du Grütli