Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Boston Lyric Opera presents Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, authentically sung in French with projected English translation. Set in a tavern during the intermission of Don Giovanni, Hoffmann dreams of his love, the opera singer Stella, who he plans to meet after the performance. He regales his drinking buddies with three tales of failed romances; each conjured on stage in his mind’s eye. His tragic choices in women include a doll, a consumptive and a courtesan, and together they reveal Hoffmann’s persistently bad judgment; the memory of which spirals him into a drunken stupor. The fantastic cast includes tenor Gerard Powers as Hoffmann, soprano Georgia Jarman as Hoffmann’s four heroines, and BLO audience favorite Gaétan Laperrière. This capricious tale kicks off BLO’s Spellbound season and sets the stage for Dvorák’s Rusalka and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, coming in Spring 2009.