World Monuments in Paris: Opéra Comique

Founded in 1714, the Opéra Comique is one of the oldest musical and theatrical institutions in France. It has hosted the premieres of internationally recognized works such as Bizet’s Carmen and Massenet’s Manon. Its building on Place Boïeldieu in the 2nd arrondissement was destroyed by fires and rebuilt in 1838 and 1887 with its magnificent Salle Favart. Between 2012 and 2018, the French state, supported by World Monuments Fund, carried out a major campaign to restore the building, enabling the parquet floors, mosaics, frescoes, and other decorative elements to regain their original splendor.

About Agnès Terrier

Agnès Terrier has been an artistic advisor and dramaturg at the Opéra Comique since 2007, specializing in program editions, research, and conferences. She is also a professor of French diction at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and an expert on French lyrical art.

Series Curator & Moderator

Russell Kelley was the curator and moderator of the past four winters’ Zoom lecture series on the “Grands Châteaux of the Loire and Île de France,” “The Making of the French Garden,” “The Great Churches of Paris,” and “The Making of the Museums of Paris.” He is the author of The Making of Paris: The Story of How Paris Evolved from a Fishing Village into the World’s Most Beautiful City (Lyons Press, 2021), and has lived in Paris for more than 30 years.