Ravel: L’Heure espagnole & L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Monte Carlo Opera

Celebrating two Maurice Ravel anniversaries in one programme: 100 years to the day after its premiere at the very same venue, and 150 years to the month after the composer’s birth, “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges” from the Monte Carlo Opera on a double bill with Ravel’s only other opera, “L’Heure espagnole”.
Star French soprano Gaëlle Arquez does double duty as the flighty Concepción in “L’Heure espagnole”, attempting vainly to conceal her lovers from clockmaker husband Torquemada, and as the misbehaving titular child of “L’Enfant et les sortilèges”, who is about to be taught a valuable lesson. Also appearing in both operas are tenor Cyrille Dubois and baritones Florian Sempey and Matthieu Lécroart, who capture Ravel at his farcical and whimsical best in these twin productions by acclaimed stage director Jean-Louis Grinda, with Japanese maestro Kazuki Yamada leading the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo.