New in my collection : two programme books from Opéra de Lyon

Yesterday, I received two programme books published by the Opéra de Lyon, for the following contemporary operas :

- Alexander Raskatov : A Dog's Heart, first performance on January 20th, 2014 ;
- Michel Tabachnik : Benjamin, dernière nuit, first performance on March 15th, 2016.

The first is a 200 pages book. The opera was first performed in Amsterdam on June 7th, 2010. The book is entirely in French. It contains :

- technical information : description of the libretto and score, complete cast with tessituras, complete orchestral setting, complete casts for the world première and the performances in Lyon ;
- detailed synopsis ;
- notices on the characters ;
- complete libretto in transliterated Russian, with French translation ;
- two articles by the composer : En quelques notes and L'Opéra pour l'Histoire ;
- excerpts of secret services reports on Mikhail Bulgakov's original novel ;
- two excerpts of Bulgakov's original novel ;
- biographical timlines of Alexander Raskatov and Mikhail Bulgakov.

The second is a 200 pages book. It contains :

- technical information : description of the libretto and score, complete cast with tessituras, complete orchestral setting, complete cast for the world première ;
- detailed synopsis ;
- notices on the characters ;
- complete libretto in French ;
- interview of librettist Régis Debray ;
- interview of composer Michel Tabachnik ;
- an article by musicologist Frank Langlois on the opera ;
- excerpts of works by writers appearing in the opera : Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht, Gershom Scholem ;
- biographical timelines of composer Michel Tabachnik, librettist Régis Debray and Walter Benjamin.

I now have more than 400 programme books for contemporary operas. All scanned covers are viewable in this flickr folder.