Entertainment · Books & Arts · 13 hrs ago
New Figaro production sets Mozart’s opera in the French presidential palace
Madrid’s Teatro Real is opening a new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Canadian director Robert Carsen has set the opera in France’s Élysée presidential palace, where public and private life meet.
The opera, written by Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, first opened in Vienna in 1786 after Da Ponte softened the original play’s sharper criticism.
Its story challenges the power and privilege of the aristocracy, including a count’s attempt to claim sexual rights over Susanna.
Carsen planned the palace setting before recent street protests in France, but says events have influenced the work in rehearsal.
Stefano Montanari conducts the Madrid Symphony Orchestra in this production, which opens at the Teatro Real.
Robert Carsen’s new production of Mozart and Da Ponte’s The Marriage of Figaro moves the comedy to France’s Élysée presidential palace.
The production is due to open at Madrid’s Teatro Real on November 10, 2026.
Carsen said he chose the setting because public and private life share the same space there, and because the original play by Beaumarchais is French.
He said recent street protests had influenced the production’s rehearsals, although he did not consider the opera political.
Stefano Montanari conducts the Madrid Symphony Orchestra and will play the recitatives on fortepiano.
- Who
- The production is directed by Robert Carsen, with Stefano Montanari conducting.
- What
- A new production of Mozart and Da Ponte’s The Marriage of Figaro sets the opera in the Élysée presidential palace.
- When
- It is due to open on November 10, 2026.
- Where
- Teatro Real in Madrid, with the action set in the Élysée in Paris.
- Why
- Carsen wanted a setting where public and private life coexist, and said the French origin of Beaumarchais’s play also informed the choice.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Marriage of Figaro premiered at Vienna’s Burgtheater.
Protesters in Paris chanted a threat against French President Emmanuel Macron, according to El País.
El País reported that the Teatro Real production would open the following day.
The new production is due to open at Madrid’s Teatro Real.
- Opera
- The Marriage of Figaro
- Composer and librettist
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte
- Director
- Robert Carsen
- Conductor
- Stefano Montanari
- Venue
- Teatro Real, Madrid
- Setting
- The Élysée presidential palace
What people are saying
I needed a place where the public and the private could coexist under the same roof, and besides, the original by Beaumarchais is French.
It is not a political opera, but we know very well what it led to.
In reality, we have not changed that much…
Mozart puts all his technical repertoire at the service of contrasts, but the most important things are always written simply.