Concert

Over the last fifteen years, and after two complète make overs, the Châtelet has become one of Paris' leading theaters, on ar with the Opéra or the city's larger concert halls. In the past, however, Parisians most often onsidered the Châtelet as the shrine of operetta, where popular artists such as Luis Mariano nd Fernandel delighted crowds for many a season. uilt in 1862, the then largest theater in Paris (with no less than 2,500 seats) programmed irais shows as weil as spectacular productions. Those were the days one could admire the impressive écor inspired by Jules Veme's AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS on the Châtelet's stage.

Now completely subsidized by the City of Paris, the theater has revived a tradition of prestigious productions that it proposed at the beginning of the century, when Diaghilev and his "Ballets Russes" commissioned compo­sers such as Stravinsky, Ravel, and Debussy. In 1912, the Parisian public was flabbergasted by Nijinsky's  lasciviciousness  dancing in the Prélude to "The Afternoon of a Faun." Two years earlier, the theater hosted an entire season of the MET, with Arturo Toscanini conducting no less than Aida, Falstaff, Otello, Caval-leria Rusticana, Pagliacci, and Manon Lescaut. And Caruso's voice brought down the house...

In the last few years, the Châtelet has billed several major operatic events: Peter Stein's staging of Debussy's Pelleas and Mélisande with Pierre Boulez conducting; Barenboim and Chéreau's production of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, Strauss' Woman Without a Shadow conducted by Christoph von Dohnânyi, and Jeffrey Tate's version of Wagner's Ring. The charms of the Italian style opéra house, which nonetheless offers modem comfort such as airconditio-ning, attract an ever increasing audience of music lovers and each new season is an ins­tant   sellout.    Organized   in cycles ("Beethoven, " "Twentieth Century Music, " "Mahler's Symphonies," "Schoenberg," etc. ), the Châtelet's programme has become the hub of the Parisian musical scène.