Paris Opera: to evolve if not to reform

2022-02-07T16:16:38.042Z

MUSIC – Creation of a troupe, putting the budget and productions in order… Alexander Neef, the director of the public establishment, details the measures he is taking to regain economic balance in 2024-2025.

Two years since the Paris Opera admitted its descent into hell.

Two years since its former director, Stéphane Lissner, threw in the towel by declaring the house "on its knees" with 60 million losses, which have since grown to more than 185 million (15 million for strikes and more than 170 million for the Covid).

Alexander Neef, the new Orpheus sent to get him out of there, works quietly in a house rather accustomed to the tumult of choirs.

This is all the more intriguing since, since his arrival, a reform has been expected.

On September 1, 2020, the day of the transfer of power between Lissner and Neef organized with great fanfare Rue de Valois by the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot recalled that

"the structural difficulties of the Paris Opera require major reforms"

and returned public its decision to entrust Georges-François Hirsch and Christophe Tardieu, former deputy directors of the Paris Opera, with a report on the solutions to restore the public establishment.