Director

Laurent Pelly

Co-Director, Théâtre National de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées

Laurent Pelly is one of the world’s most sought after directors of both theatre and opera. He directs and designs costumes for productions that are detailed, satirical, often surreal, exquisite in taste and wonderfully imaginative in both conception and execution. Current work includes Robert le Diable (Royal Opera house, Covent Garden), L’enfant et les Sortilèges/L’heure espagnol (Glyndebourne Festival and Saito Kinen Festival), Manon (Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro alla Scala Milan and Théâtre du Capitole, Toulouse), Les Contes d’Hoffmann (San Francisco Opera and Teatro del Liceu Barcelona) Les Puritanes (Opéra national de Paris), with several other productions enjoying regular revival (including La fille du régiment, Hansel & Gretel, La Vie Parisienne).

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Laurent Pelly’s staging of L’amour des trois oranges at De Nederlandse Opera leaves audience members mesmerized

06 Mar 2013

Laurent Pelly’s imaginative and beautiful production of Prokofiev’s L’amour des trois oranges has just opened to great acclaim with...

ICA trio – Laurent Pelly, Christian Räth and Agathe Melinand - join forces for Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona

31 Jan 2013

Offenbach’s masterpiece of French Romanticism blends fantasy, the supernatural and emotion in a trio of tales through which Hoffmann, the narrator and protagonist, describes to his drinking...

Laurent Pelly and Barbara De Limburg’s Glyndebourne Ravel Double Bill makes The Independent’s best of 2012 list

08 Jan 2013

Laurent Pelly and Barbara De Limburg’s productions of Ravel's operas L'heure Espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges at Glyndebourne 2012 have been named as one of the...

Laurent Pelly stages Robert le diable at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

04 Dec 2012

The Royal Opera House is staging Meyerbeer’s long-forgotten grand French opera ‘Robert le diable’ 122 years after...

Pelly, Ono and De Limburg weave their magic over Glyndebourne

31 Jul 2012

Creative trio Laurent Pelly, Kazushi Ono and Barbara De Limburg have received high praise following the extraordinary opening night of a sell out performance of Glyndebourne’s Ravel Double Bill:...

Laurent Pelly directs Massenet’s Manon at the Metropolitan Opera

27 Mar 2012

Following the dazzling success of his staging of Donizett’is la fille du regiment in 2010, Laurent Pelly returns to the Metropolitan Opera to direct Massenet’s Manon...

Laurent Pelly’s La Vie Parisienne returns to Opéra de Lyon

13 Dec 2011

Laurent Pelly’s effervescent and iconic staging of Offenbach’s witty take on France and Parisians - La Vie Parisienne - recently returned to Opéra de Lyon to rave reviews and a sell out...

Laurent Pelly and Barbara de Limburg open Massenet’s ‘Cendrillon’ – new production to The Royal Opera House

05 Jul 2011

For the first time ever, The Royal Opera presents the story of Cinderella as told in Massenet’s opera. Laurent Pelly opens his production, for which he has also designed the...

Laurent Pelly talks to The Telegraph about 'Cendrillon' at the Royal Opera House

30 Jun 2011

Laurent Pelly has been interviewed by The Telegraph about 'Cendrillon' at the Royal Opera House. Read the interview below or...

Three Les Grands Prix du Syndicat de la Critique awards for ICA!

22 Jun 2011

Laurent Pelly wins the ‘Prix Georges-Lerminier’ award for ‘Best Director’ for 'Mille Francs de Récompense’ by Victor Hugo. The production by Théâtre National de Toulouse in 2010 also...

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“ Laurent Pelly’s direction is as airy as the work itself with successful synthesis of various influences. He stays true to the musical heartbeat of the opera, cleverly demonstrated when the massive playing cards are hoisted to the pulse of the music. The overall result is wonderful - music, theatre and imagery are combined to spectacular effect ”

NRC Handelsblad (L’amour des trois oranges) - Mar 2013

“ Laurent Pelly’s detailed staging elaborates the humorous aspects and leaves one always wide-eyed and surprised ”

Het Parool (L’amour des trois oranges) - Mar 2013

“ In the Kingdom of Opera Directors, Frenchman Laurent Pelly is King. Pelly has the unique ability to re-produce an astonishing and spell bounding world through the use of modern means without distorting the original idea”

Trouw (L’amour des trois oranges) - Mar 2013

“Laurent Pelly, I thought, rose brilliantly. Like his production of Cendrillon last season, this one comes straight out of his childhood story books – the Castle of Palermo in Acts II and IV is the spitting image of the toy castle I had as a child growing up in Paris; the knights’ horses are giant plastic mouldings in primary colours, matched by the costumes and pointy hats of the ladies-in-waiting; backdrops evoke mediaeval woodcuts; chequered floor, castle, knights and crowns evoke a chessboard. The stage effects of the fires of hell and the struggle between angel and devil for Robert’s soul are superbly imaginative, as is the simple frame used for the chapel in Act V.”

Bachtrack.com (Robert le diable) - Dec 2012

“Pelly is a master at bringing abstract ideas to life… [his] L'enfant et les sortilèges is a masterwork of emotional intelligence and sensitivity, absolutely informed by Ravel's music…. ”

Opera Today (L'Enfant et les Sortileges) - Aug 2012

“Glyndebourne's new double bill of L'heure espagnole and L'enfant et les sortilèges – Ravel's only operas – matches the composer's ethereal precision with near flawless performances and dazzling stagings”

Observer (L'Enfant et les Sortileges) - Aug 2012

“Glyndebourne has imported Laurent Pelly’s Paris production of ‘L’heure espagnole’ and got him to create a new one for ‘L’enfant’, and the result is a sparkling evening…. Ravel’s scintillating score [L’enfant et les Sortilèges] gives visual cues with which Pelly plays like a conjuror, with the chorus first becoming lamenting figures from the Toile de Jouy wallpaper which the boy has torn, then turning into an animated forest where the groans of the tree whose bark he has cut suddenly melt his heart…. This opera lasts just 45 minutes, but I could have wished it three times as long, as Pelly’s treatment of Colette’s charmingly regretful morality tale works its delicate spell.”

The Independant (L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Glyndebourne) - Aug 2012

“Not since Peter Hall’s iconic staging of Britten’s A midsummer Night’s Dream, 31 years ago has the Glyndebourne stage been graced by anything as beautiful as the moonlit forest scene….. the final image of the child looking back at the house to see maman comfortingly looking out of the window is a heart-stopping one….. This is Glyndebourne operating once again at world-class level, and is by some distance the most captivating staging of this magical opera I have seen. If there are tickets left for the remaining performance this week and next, grab them fast”

Sunday Times (L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Glyndebourne) - Aug 2012

“The magic with which Pelly brings to life first the inanimate objects in the house, then the world of nature in the garden beyond, is breathtaking”

Guardian (L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Glyndebourne) - Aug 2012

“Pelly deftly balances humour and pathos, stillness and commotion, allowing the central characters space to breath”

The Independent (Cendrillon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2011

“The director Laurent Pelly – the man with the magic wand – understands that everything centres on the dizzying rapture of the duets between Lucette (Cendrillon) and her Prince Charming and with the Royal Opera casting at strength - Joyce Didonato (Cendrillon) and Alice Coote (Prince Charmant) - that dynamic was at the heart of the evening’s success.”

The Independent (Cendrillon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2011

“Pelly’s production is delightful, very funny while tasteful and – last but not least – hugely entertaining. Pelly successfully doubled as director and costume designer. Indeed, I have never seen costumes fitting a directorial concept as well as in this production.”

MusicalCriticism.com (Cendrillon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2011

“The directorial master of French opera, Laurent Pelly[‘s] direction is perfection; his comic gimmicks never cheapened the opera but instead enhanced the grandeur French-ness of it all.”

Ceasefire (Cendrillon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2011

“There's a festive feel to Laurent Pelly's staging, with its rich red-and-gold palette and its lavish, witty charm…. Pelly's production is at its effervescent best in busy scenes such as the ball, where a seemingly never-ending line of hopeful princesses, costumed as if by Galliano reimagining Tenniel in topiary, hope to out-charm Prince Charming – or to scare him into submission.”

The Guardian (Cendrillon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2011

“The gifted director Laurent Pelly deployed his usual arsenal of theatrical inventions and infused this Manon with more humor than usual. This strategy paid off huge dividends when we got to the contrasting devastating emotional moments. Mr. Pelly is reliably a master of character development, resulting in every person on the stage (including choristers) being at all times engaged, committed to the moment, and buoyed by sub-text. His staging made excellent use of the various playing spaces, and it was executed to a fare-thee-well by the lively cast. I loved the men in tails, side-stepping across stage during the gavotte, like Fred Astaire’s group-courting their Ginger.”

Opera Today (Manon, Royal Opera House) - Jul 2010

“A warm welcome for Glyndebourne’s excellent revival of Laurent Pelly’s witty contemporary take on Humperdinck’s Hänsel and Gretel, meticulously restaged... An audience including a large number of small children was completely enthralled.”

The Telegraph (Hansel und Gretel, Glyndebourne) - Jul 2010

“Laurent Pelly's keenly observed and evocatively designed new production updates Massenet's rosewater romance to the elegant Belle Epoque Paris of the 1880s, a time that perfectly suits the swelling, lilting score Elsewhere, Pelly ensures vivid characterisation from his strong cast (particularly Christophe Mortagne's wittily achieved Guillot) and inimitable precision from his meticulously choreographed chorus.”

The Daily Mail (Manon, The Royal Opera) - Jun 2010

“Could it possibly be as good as it had been three years ago? The Royal Opera’s 2007 production of Donizetti’s delicious farce La Fille du régiment was one of the Pappano era’s biggest successes, and expectations ran high for this first revival, with substantially the same cast.... As good as it was? No, even better.”

The Telegraph (La Fille du Regiment, The Royal Opera House) - May 2010

“All too frequently, comic opera falls flat on its face because directors are bereft of comic ingenuity. Laurent Pelly shows them the way: he is so witty and so musically keen that his production of La Fille du régiment is awash with inventive bliss. He doesn’t need to resort to sexy sight gags or flushing toilets; he has proper ideas instead, hilarious ones, and I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud at some fleeting moment of cleverness.”

Whats On Stage (La Fille du Regiment) - May 2010

“Opera is rarely laugh-out-loud funny; nor is it as consistently witty, as stylish, as quirkily captivating as Laurent Pelly’s staging of Donizetti’s Tyrolean romp, first seen in 2007 and now revived with pretty much its entire original cast once again firing on all cylinders.”

The Independent (La Fille du Regiment) - May 2010

“The La Monnaie production, which sees the director and costume designer Laurent Pelly making his debut in the house, attends to the easy charm of the score with a pleasingly simple production style that yet allows itself humorous flourishes; particularly impressive is the knight’s flailing windmill aerodynamics, and the crowd scenes where Dulcinée’s four suitors — moustachioed and smarmy roles, two of them trouser — contain a blizzard of energy with pointed dramatic focus. The subtle standing lean of the Don in the final act conveys so much, and is typical of the productions smarts and elegance.”

Musicalcriticism.com (Don Quichotte, La Monnaie) - May 2010

“Director Laurent Pelly turns the ruse into an endlessly inventive romp, with his own delirious costumes, clever sets by Chantal Thomas and perfectly integrated, precise, whirlwind choreography by Laura Scozzi, which seems to echo Rameau's wonderfully expressive music almost note for note.”

Wall Street Journal (Rameau's Platée, Opéra National de Paris) - Nov 2009

“French director Laurent Pelly's staging of Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment for Covent Garden was the outstanding hit of last season, one of the freshest, sharpest productions for years. He has triumphed again with a delicious new L'elisir d'amore, set in a Lambretta-riding, Fellini-esque 1950s Italy, with industrial-sized haystack and pony-tailed girls in tea-frocks. ”

Evening Standard (L’Elisir d’amore / Royal Opera House Covent Garden) - Nov 2007

“For the second time this year, the Royal Opera has hit the jackpot with a Donizetti comedy. Back in January, it was the Italian composer’s zany French farce La Fille du régiment, with starry vocal leads in Natalie Dessay, as the tomboyish daughter of the regiment, and Juan Diego Florez, flinging out top Cs with effortless abandon. The production was the work of the Frenchman Laurent Pelly and his regular set designer, Chantal Thomas, who now, with near perfect symmetry and even greater success, return to stage Donizetti’s comic masterpiece, his charming melodramma giocoso L’elisir d’amore. This is an evening full of such delightful surprises: feelgood opera, for sure, but blocked and choreographed with the kind of slick virtuosity that one expects in the singing of a bel canto opera, but rarely in a staging. ”

The Sunday Times (L’Elisir d’amore / Royal Opera House Covent Garden) - Nov 2007

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French-born Laurent Pelly enjoys a career as one of France’s most sought after directors of both theatre and opera. He directs and designs costumes for productions that are detailed, satirical, often surreal, exquisite in taste and wonderfully imaginative in both conception and execution. He is particularly renowned for his work in French repertoire, and has a particular skill for revealing the serious side of comedy; however he is increasingly in demand as a director of more weighty music-dramas. He underlines his interpretation of characters through his skilful and inspired costume designs.

Laurent Pelly enjoys a distinguished career in the theatre – in 2007 he was appointed Director of Théâtre National de Toulouse, having previously been Director of Cargo / Centre Dramatique National des Alpes in Grenoble from 1997-2007. Highlights in Toulouse include Victor Hugo’s Mille cents francs de récompense (also at l’Odéon in Paris and winner of the 2011 french critics “best director” award, as well as “best set design”), Hanokh Levin’s Funérailles d’hiver, Carlo Goldoni’s Le Menteur, Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, a staged recital of songs by Michel Legrand, featuring Natalie Dessay and most recently Shakespeare’s Macbeth, for which he also designed both sets and costumes. In 12/13 he directs and designs Victor Hugo’s Mangeront-ils?

Current opera productions include Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortilèges and L'heure espagnole for the Glyndebourne and Saito Kinen Festivals, Robert le Diable for the Royal Opera House and Grand Théâtre de Genève and Bellini’s I Puritani for L’Opéra national de Paris. Other current work includes a new version of Les contes d’Hoffmann for San Francisco Opera and Teatro del Liceu, a revival of Prokofiev’s Love for Three Oranges in Amsterdam, Manon at Covent Garden (also in Japan in September 2010), Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala Milan and Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse and Cendrillon (originally created in Santa Fe) at Covent Garden, Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, La Monnaie Brussels and Opéra de Lillle.

Other recent successes include Handel’s Guilio Cesare for L’Opéra national de Paris, Kurt Weil’s Threepenny Opera for la Comédie-Française, Massenet’s Don Quichotte at La Monnaie, Mahagonny for Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Offenbach’s La Vie Parisienne for Opéra de Lyon and Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse, Hansel und Gretel for Glyndebourne Festival (also revived in Lyon) and Verdi’s La traviata at Santa Fe and Teatro Regio di Torino.

His celebrated production of Donizetti’s La fille du régiment (Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera) received world-wide acclaim, and enjoys constant revival, whilst other productions include Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (Saito Kinen Festival and Maggio Musicale Florence), Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Mozart’s La finta semplice (Theater an der Wien), Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges (Netherlands Opera), L’elisir d’amore (Opéra national de Paris, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Mariinsky Theatre St Petersburg and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Weill’s Les Sept péchés Capitaux (Opéra national de Paris), Poulenc’s La Voix humaine and Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Opéra National de Lyon), Rameau’s Platée (Opéra national de Paris, Santa Fe), Chabrier’s Le roi malgré lui for Opéra National de Lyon and L’Opéra Comique Offenbach’s La Grande Duchesse at Théâtre du Châtelet and La Belle Hélène (Théâtre du Châtelet, Santa Fe, English National Opera).