Agathe Mélinand
Dramaturg, LibrettistAgathe Mélinand has not completely rewritten the text; rather reshaped and cut some of the longer sections, thus proving that without any need for any "dusting off" of the texts, the spectators still laugh at the original texts when the burlesque, the hero-comedy and the absurd are handled with so much skill.
Agathe Mélinand enjoys a career as director, dramaturg and librettist in opera and theatre. She also writes regularly for Le Monde Diplomatique and other publications.
In the opera house Agathe has produced new dialogues and adaptations of numerous libretti. Projects in 2023 include an adaption of Le Chauve Souris in the original french for Opéra de Lille with director Laurent Pelly. Other recent work includes Lakmé for Opéra Comique, La Périchole for the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, an adaptation of Offenbach’s Le voyage dans la Lune for Opéra Comique (a co-production with Greek National Opera and the Volksoper Vienna) and additional texts (derived from Goethe’s Faust) for Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust for the Glyndebourne Festival, directed by Richard Jones. An Offenbach specialist, her adaptation of Le roi Carotte was the winner of the Best Discovered Work category at the International Opera Awards.
Her most recent work in the theatre includes Le Petit Livre d'Anna Magdalena Bach – inspired by the film Chronique d’Anna Magdalena Bach (Jean-Marie Straub Straub and Danièle Huillet) and based around the Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach and the french-language premiere of her new translation of Harvey by Mary Chase at TNP-Villurbaine (Lyon), directed by Laurent Pelly. 2023-24 sees the premiere of their latest theatrical venture – Goldoni’s L’Impresario de Smyrne, translated and adapted by Agathe.