Stéphane Lissner, Director of the Opéra National de Paris: “Introducing young people to opera”

Some of the highlights of his career

• In 1983, he became Administrator of the Théâtre du Châtelet (a Paris theatre and opera house), where he was appointed as general manager in 1988. From 1993 to 1995, he was simultaneously general manager of the Paris Orchestra.
• From 1998 to 2006, he was in charge of the Festival International d’Art Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence. He founded the European Academy of Music there as an extension of the festival to educate and promote talented young artists.
• From 2005 to 2014, he became general manager and artistic director of the Teatro della Scala in Milan. He was the first non-Italian director there. From 2005 to 2013, he was also head of music at the Wiener Festwochen in Austria.
• He took office as Director of the Opéra National de Paris on 1 August 2014. 

Stéphane Lissner likes to shift the lines, both in his management style and his choice of programmes, mixing past and future, young audiences and connoisseurs... That is why he resumed an idea that he developed at La Scala in Milan: giving young people under the age of 28 the chance to attend preview showings of performances for €10 a ticket!

With the support of the BNP Paribas Foundation, a sponsor of the Opéra National de Paris for more than 10 years already, the Opera offers a programme of 13 special-event performances for the 2016/2017 season, aimed at young spectators who do not always have the financial means to go to the Opera Bastille or the Palais Garnier. Admiring this citizen-minded approach, the BNP Paribas Foundation also organises competitions on social networks to win free tickets.

Photos ©Louis Bourjac // Video:  Le Kollektif