The next time you sip a martini, you’ll be pleased to know you’re drinking a drop of operatic history.The Aix-en-Provence Festival was founded in 1948 by Lily Pastré, an opera-loving heiress whose fortune came from sales of the up-market vermouth Noilly Prat (which just happens to taste fabulous in the aforementioned cocktail.)In that first year, Pastré’s wealth funded just one opera. Since then the festival has become one of the most important in Europe, and this year is presenting six stagings, including a couldn’t-be-more-controversial new production, an all-female a cappella work, and an opera specially for children conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. It all officially kicks off on July 2, although there are preparatory events (with the umbrella title “Aix en Juin”) through June.The most controversial item on the menu is Mozart’s comedy “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” (July 3-21). It tells the story of a tyrannical Pasha who abducts a white European girl, throws her into his harem, and threatens her with torture unless she becomes his lover. In Mozart’s time, it was seen as a tale of absolutism versus individual liberty. Later the faux-Turkish musical idiom, orientalist setting, and casual racism caused uneasiness, and it wasn’t staged very often. It also has stretches of German spoken dialogue, which is another hurdle.But there’s been a sudden spurt in the opera’s popularity recently. With the rise of Islamic State, directors are clearly once again chomping at the bit to see what the work can tell us about our current fears surrounding Islamic fanaticism, and about western preconceptions of the east.The director in this case is Martin Kušej, who supplies another element of controversy. Known for his radical re-interpretations of classic works, Kušej hit the headlines last year when his Royal Opera staging of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” — complete with enormous rubber shark — caused an unprecedented tidal wave of booing. So be warned.Whatever Kušej comes up with, there are bound to be musical pleasures on offer: the fine young conductor Jérémie Rohrer is in the pit conducting the Freiburger Barockorchester, a spit-spot period-instrument ensemble.Also on the program is a fascinating double bill of Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta” and Stravinsky’s “Perséphone” (July 5-20). Peter Sellars, another director known for his interventionist approach, tackles both works. The staging first appeared at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 2012 and is available on DVD, so if you’re unsure whether to venture on a ticket, you can check it out in advance.Sellars stages the works, which are both about women who undergo a radical spiritual transformation in a serenely beautiful abstract landscape. The Cambodian dance troupe Amrita supplies a mesmerizing physicality to the production, and the firebrand Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis is the baton-holder.Bernard Foccroulle, the current director general of the festival, cannily spreads his budget by creating plenty of co-productions. He part-funded the world premiere of George Benjamin’s glassily beautiful “Written on Skin” in 2012, for example, and Katie Mitchell’s production then travelled to London’s Royal Opera the following year.This year Mitchell stages Handel’s “Alcina” (which opens the festival on July 2), about a sorceress whose magic fails to gain her the heart of the man she loves. The cast, which includes Patricia Petibon in the title role, with support from Philippe Jaroussky and Anna Prohaska, couldn’t be more mouth-watering.A favorite, much-travelled production returns too: Robert Carsen’s beautiful and hilarious 1991 staging of Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” makes a welcome re-appearance (July 4- 20) with A-list singers conducted by Kazushi Ono.Two more highlights round out the season. Jonathan Dove’s community opera “The Monster in the Maze”, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, appears on July 8 and 9 soon after its world premiere in Berlin. And a new production of the 2011 all-female a capella opera “Svadba” by Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolovič, in which a group of women laugh, sing and reminisce the night before a wedding, can be seen July 3-16.It’s a varied season with plenty of risk and plenty of temptations. So let’s offer cheers to Lily Pastré, to her vermouth empire, and the liquid assets that started the Aix-en-Provence Festival.The Aix-en-Provence Festival runs through July 21.
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