Pinocchio

• Financial Times

  "Long, philosophical and just a little twisted, it is the Twin Peaks of children’s operas. Their parents should love it – though they might have nightmares"

• Opera Today

  "This 2017 Aix Pinocchio is big, great big and truly magnificent. It is grand opera complete with a ballet." Michael Milenski

• El PaÍs

  "La respuesta final del público fue abrumadoramente positiva y a la salida había una rara unanimidad en que nadie podría negarle a este Pinocchio el esquivo y, en estos tiempos, resbaladizo calificativo de ópera." Luis Gago

• La Marseillaise

  "A magical journey, an illustrated book between blackness and fairyland." Patrick De Maria

T'as pas d'argent ? T'es pauvre ?
Oh là, là, là, là, fallait qu'ça tombe encor' sur moi !

You've got no money? You're poor?
Well blow me down — I guess it just had to happen to me again!

Since writer Carlo Collodi unleashed him from his imagination and Geppetto fashioned him from a piece of wood, the puppet Pinocchio has been constantly transformed, adapted and revisited. Now playright and director Joël Pommerat has made an opera character of him, in an ideal collaboration with composer Philippe Boesmans, whose richly coloured musical universe, seems tailor-made for the small wooden figure. He presents the character as a rude and insolent person, eschewing all sentimentality to reconnect with the harsh world that Collodi portrays in his book. Reflecting his conception of theatre as a company endeavour, Joël Pommerat entrusts all the roles in this lyrical tale to six singers in disparate costumes – cabaret fairy, circus director, bad guy – all brought to life by a director who also narrates this story that speaks to everyone, both young and old alike.

Programme (pdf in French)

The orchestra mock up has been created with the participation of the CIRM (Centre National de Création Musicale) Member of the Université Côte d’Azur.

The Festival d’Aix invites you to support the world premiere of Pinocchio and
to benefit of exclusive access to the artistic creation process

I support Pinocchio (pdf)

The production of Pinocchio is supported by:
Baron and Baronne Philippe Bodson, M. Bernard Boon Falleur and Mme France de Kinder, M. and Mme Charles Adriaenssen, M. François Casier, M. and Mme Didier de Callataÿ, M. Frédéric Habets, Mme Francine Loreau, M. and Mme Leonard Schrank, M. and Mme Benoit Van Langenhove de Bouvekercke, M. and Mme Anton Van Rossum, M. and Mme Karel Vinck , M. Jérôme Wigny

The Festival d’Aix would like to thank the Fondation Camargo for hosting the artists during the creation.