Nicolas Joël

Nicolas Joel or Joël (6 February 195318 June 2020) was a French opera director and administrator of opera houses. He was general manager of the Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse from 1990 to 2009 and of the Paris Opera from 2009 to 2014. He directed operas internationally.

Career

Joel was born in Paris, where he studied. In 1973, he was hired by the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg as assistant director and remained until 1978. In 1976, Patrice Chéreau brought him in as an assistant for the production of the ''Jahrhundertring'' for the centenary of the Bayreuth Festival. In 1979, he began his own directing career with a production of Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' for the Opéra du Rhin and the Opéra de Lyon. In 1981, he directed ''Samson et Dalila'' at the San Francisco Opera, with Shirley Verrett and Plácido Domingo in the leading roles, and Verdi's ''Aida'' at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, with Luciano Pavarotti.

He directed a second ''Ring'' for the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, ''Aida'' at the Vienna State Opera in 1984, Verdi's ''Ernani'' and Wagner's ''Parsifal'' in San Francisco, Wagner's ''Lohengrin'' in Copenhagen, Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin'', Mascagni's ''Cavalleria Rusticana'' and Leoncavallo's ''Pagliacci'' in Amsterdam and Gothenburg, Verdi's ''Rigoletto'', '' La traviata'' and '' La forza del destino'' at the Opernhaus Zürich, '' Salomé'' by Richard Strauss in Essen, and Mussorgski's ''Boris Godunov'' and Bellini's ''I Capuleti e i Montecchi'' at the Theater Bremen. He also directed Puccini's ''Tosca'' in Lausanne for José van Dam's debut as Scarpia. In 1994, he made his debut at La Scala in Milan with Puccini's ''La rondine''. He staged Gounod's ''Roméo et Juliette'' at the Royal Opera House in London, and Bizet's ''Carmen'' at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Joel made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1996 with Giordano's ''Andrea Chénier'', again with Pavarotti. In 1998, he directed ''Aida'' for the reopening of the Teatro Massimo of Palermo, and he staged ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1999, he directed a new production of Massenet's ''Manon'' at La Scala.

In France, he directed Puccini's ''Turandot'' and Massenet's ''Thaïs'' in Nancy, Ponchielli's ''La Gioconda'' and Verdi's ''Les Vêpres siciliennes'' at the Opéra national de Montpellier, Debussy's ''La Damoiselle élue'' and Purcell's ''Dido and Aeneas'' with Jessye Norman at the Paris Opera, Gounod's ''Faust'' and the world premiere of Marcel Landowski's ''Montségur'' in Toulouse, and ''Andrea Chénier'' at the Opéra du Rhin and the Opéra de Lyon. At the Paris Opera, he staged a new production of ''Un Bal masqué'' in 1992. He directed Wagner's ''Parsifal'' in Nice in 1994.

From 1990 to 2009, Joel was artistic director of the Capitole de Toulouse. For the reopening of the Théâtre du Capitole in 1996, he presented Charpentier's '' Louise'' and Massenet's ''Werther''. Among his productions in Toulouse were Wagner's ''Ring'', ''Boris Godunov'', ''Louise'' and ''Hamlet''. He reopened the Théâtre du Capitole, after the renovation of the stage cage, in October 2004, with a new production of Janáček's ''Jenůfa''.

He staged ''Daphne'' by Richard Strauss at the Vienna State Opera in 2004, Puccini's ''La rondine'' at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008, and ''Faust'' at the Vienna State Opera the same year.

Paris Opera

From 2009, Joel was director of the Paris Opera, succeeding Gerard Mortier.

In 2011, the institution recorded an attendance of nearly 800,000, 94.1% and 1.7% higher than in 2010. While standard repertoire was performed, contemporary opera appeared in Bruno Mantovani's opera ''Akhmatova'', Jean-Guillaume Bart's ballet ''La Source'', Alexei Ratmansky's ballet ''Psyché'', which was also shown in New York City, and Wayne McGregor's ballet ''L'Anatomie de la sensation''.

In October 2012, Joel announced that he would not stand for another term, after learning of the Opera's budgetary planning for the coming years. In September 2013, he tendered his resignation, one year early, effective August 2014. He was succeeded by Stéphane Lissner.

Family

Joel was the brother of conductor Emmanuel Joel-Hornak. He died on 18 June 2020 in Toulouse.Disparition de Nicolas Joel ancien directeur des opéras de Paris et de Toulouse
France Musique 19 June 2020

Awards

Joel received the Drama and Music Critics Award for his lyrical productions twice, as well as a Victoire de la Musique in 1996, in the category "Best Lyrical Production" for Poulenc's ''Dialogues des Carmélites''.Nicolas Joel
(in French) Opera Theatre d'Avignon, 2007, p. 9

Joel had been a chevalier (knight) of the Legion of Honour since 2004 and became an officer in 2014.

References

Further reading

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External links

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* José M. Irurzun
Poulenc, Dialogues des Carmelites: Soloists, Orchestre National du Capitole. Choeur du Capitole. Conductor: Patrick Davin. Halle aux Grains de Toulouse. 27.11.2009 (JMI)
musicweb-international.com 2009
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Joel, Nicolas
1953 births
2020 deaths
Officers of the Legion of Honour
French opera managers
Directors of the Paris Opera