Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet was a great success in its time, but was rarely heard for many decades. The popularity of this revival with ‘an ideal cast of artists’ proves that the time is right for a reappraisal of Thomas’ operatic masterworks, Hamlet now being so sought after that the work is being staged everywhere: in New York, Marseille, Vienna, Brussels and Gothenburg in recent years, and in Barcelona and Berlin in 2019

With Shakespearian operas all the rage in Paris during the 19th century, Ambroise Thomas and his librettists Michel Carré and Jules Barbier adapted Hamlet to create a romantic spectacle in which the character of Ophélie shines with a haunting radiance. With its virtuosic arias, stunning ensembles and vivid orchestration – with the colourful addition of the newly invented saxophone – Thomas composed one of the most successful operas in the French repertoire. This is further enhanced by director Cyril Teste’s multi-layered production, reinstating its powerful original ending, and including cinematic techniques to create ‘a very palpable hit’ (bachtrack.com)