Penthée is an opera in Five Acts and a Prologue written by the Regent to be Philippe d’Orléans, with a libretto by Charles-Auguste de la Fare based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed before the King in the grand hall of the Palais-Royal on 16^th July 1705. Even if Philippe d’Orléans’ composition was assisted by his music master Charles-Hubert Gervais, the score is still truly and astonishingly ground-breaking. The Regent balked at nothing, venturing a highly personal style marked by bold harmonics and unexpected tonalities, making the score feel like a musical laboratory or playground. One could see it as the mere whim of a musician Prince, but that would be far from the truth – the work is a true masterpiece.                                                                                                         

The production is the fruit of collaboration between the CMBV and the Paris and Versailles regional conservatoires with the support of young singers. Fabien Armengaud has admirably resuscitated this opera, soundly contradicting Philippe d’Orléans‘ mother Madame Palatine, who said of her son - “He has every talent, except that of making good use of it”!