La beauté du monde – November 19-27, 2022 LiveEvents November 13, 2022 837 Opéra de Montréal presents La beauté du monde To whom does art belong? After a successful premiere of the deeply moving opera Les Feluettes in 2016, Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard is back at the Opéra de Montréal with an original libretto about the epic rescue of artwork from the Louvre. This time, he teams up with composer Julien Bilodeau. A proof of the inestimable value of art and beauty. World War II is wreaking havoc while France has suffered an important defeat at the hands of the Germans. But the fight continues onto the art front when Hitler arrives in Paris. While Nazi officers plan to plunder the Louvre of its precious masterpieces, Jacques Jaujard and Rose Valland risk their lives to orchestrate an historic clandestine rescue. Synopsis From 1939, fearing the German advance with its bombardments and looting, Jacques Jaujard, the director of the national museums of France, organized the evacuation of the major pieces of the Louvre and the safekeeping of the collections. As the Germans advanced on Paris, thousands of works found themselves in exile on the roads of France. The Mona Lisa, incognito, is part of the convoy. For her part, Rose Valland, the former director of the Jeu de Paume Museum, relegated to the role of concierge, secretly collects and puts together at the risk of her life all the information on the private collections owned by the Jews and seized by the Germans. Hermann Göring, Marshal of the German Empire, makes dozens of visits to the Jeu de Paume and selects thousands of works for his personal collection. At the end of the war, thanks to the efforts and instinct of Jacques Jaujard, all the works of the Louvre found their place in their museum. Thanks to the work and notes of Rose Valland, more than 60,000 works looted, mostly from Jews, have found their owner. In French with English and French surtitles Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7:30pm Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at 7:30pm Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 7:30pm Sunday, November 27, 2022 at 2:00pm PreOpera To all ticket holders: a free pre-concert presentation with Michel Marc Bouchard (librettist) will take place one hour before each performance at the Piano Nobile in Place des Arts. Moderator: Pierre Vachon, musicologist To purchase your tickets visit: www.placedesarts.com
