Écoutez: Locals tune-out l’Opéra Bastille
By Kris Vera
Paris, Residency at Reuters TV, London
Kinugawa Naoko traveled halfway around the world to see a performance at l’Opéra Bastille but discovered all the tickets were sold out.
She couldn’t buy tickets online to opera house’s next performance of Charles Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande. So the fifty-something-year-old Japanese tourist navigated the Metro with her Paris map and a splint around her left arm. The guide was printed with Japanese characters. She said the arm injury was from her travels.
After getting off the Bastille Metro stop, she walked around the fifteen-year-old opera building between Rue de Lyon and Rue de Charenton. She wore a light beige jacket, black slacks and white tennis shoes.
Eventually, she found the opera house’s Accueil (Information) desk. It was next to the ticket office. The ladies at the desk told Naoko the show was sold out.
“They told me to come back forty-five minutes before the show,” Naoko said, “Maybe I can buy last-minute tickets.”
Naoko is willing to navigate through Paris with barely any French skills and an injured arm to get a ticket at the l’Opéra Bastille. Local students, workers and residents lack Naoko’s passion for the musical genre. Many of them do not plan on going through that much trouble to attend the classical music venue in the heart of their 11th arrondissement.
This reporter asked nineteen people walking around the Place de la Bastille and sitting on the steps of the l’Opéra Bastille: “Avez-vous visiter l’Opéra Bastille?” (Have you ever visited l’Opéra Bastille?). A majority of the people surveyed answered: “Non, jamais.” (No, never.)
Naoko decided to visit the Place des Vosges after l’Opera Bastille. She said she enjoys listening to opera music and watching the performances.
“I love operas, especially international ones,” Naoko said.
In the past few months, Naoko has traveled to Sweden, Norway and Denmark to watch operas. She said she couldn’t get a ticket to an opera in Denmark. Instead, she attended August Bournonville’s ballet, Abdallah, at the Royal Theater. She thought it was interesting the 1855 ballet took place in Basra, Iraq.
According to paris-tourism.com, l’Opéra Bastille was built to appeal to the common people. Its inauguration was held during the French Revolution Bicentenary celebration on July 13, 1989. The first opera production was Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens in 1990.
The main auditorium can seat 2700 audience members. The building was designed by Canadian-Uruguayan architect Carlos Otis. The stark building composed of white and grey tiles and glass cylinders stands-out from the circle of fast cars, trendy cafes and expensive boutiques around the “Spirit of Liberty” memorial.
l’Opéra Bastille tickets cost anywhere between 9€ for nose-bleed seats to 130€ for front-row seats.
One commentary from paris-tourism.com said: “The Bastille Opera was built with the mission to drag the people in and make them at home and make the lyric spectacle speak to them directly.”
This does not seem to be the case for the people inside the 11th arrondissement. At the FNAC Musique store on the Place de la Bastille, a worker at the desk for Accueil Classique (classical music information) said he has not been to the opera house.
“Je n’aime pas opera,” he said. (I do not like opera).
Nguyen Lile works for l’Opéra Bastille and she said she attended many shows at her work place and other opera houses.
“I have seen beaucoup, many,” Lile said, “Mozart is good. I like Italian ones aussi (also).”
Fifty-year-old Lile was born in Vietnam and her family moved to France when she was a young girl. She said it’s difficult to pick a favorite opera because she’s seen so many.
“I also like some modern operas,” Lile said, bobbing her head of red hair. She had white and black polka dot scarf knotted around her neck. “Stages by Robert Wilson are good. I must like the whole show, including the scenery.”
She pointed out that each show is different, depending on the venue and vision of the show.
“The Magic Flute is good, but next year it will be different,” Lile said. “Directors are also different.”
On the other side of on the Place de la Bastille, Naoko named her favorite opera without hesitation.
“My favorite is the Ring Cycle by Wagner,” Naoko said.
Naoko said she would return to l’Opéra Bastille later that evening and try her luck at the last-minute tickets.
“Wish me luck,” she said.