Opéra de Dijon

The demolition of the Sainte-Chapelle church and its cloister in 1802 freed up land in the city centre and plans began in earnest for a purpose-built municipal theatre and opera house.

[3][4] The Grand Théâtre (also referred to in the past as the "Opéra de Dijon") remained the city's only opera house until the end of the 20th century.

It was inaugurated on 4 November 1828 with the play Les deguisements, ou une folie des grands hommes, especially written for the occasion by the Dijon-born poet Charles Brifaut.

It was designed by a consortium of architectural firms (Arquitectonica of Miami, Florida and Bougeault–Walgenwitz of Dijon with acoustics engineering by Artec) and was officially opened on 20 June 1998.

Located at the Place Jean Bouhey, the triangular-shaped building, reminiscent of a grand piano,[8] has two large glass-walled foyers and a main auditorium on four levels with a seating capacity of 1611.

Its 2014/2015 season focused on Czechoslovakia with performances of Káťa Kabanová, Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Brundibár, and Janáček's song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared.

The 250th anniversary of the death of Jean-Philippe Rameau, who was born in Dijon, was marked with productions of his Castor et Pollux and a double bill of his opéra-ballets Daphnis et Eglé and La Naissance d’Osiris.

Girolamo Bargagli's play La pellegrina is primarily known for its six musical intermedi by the most famous Florentine composers of the day, including Giulio Caccini, Cristofano Malvezzi, Luca Marenzio, and Jacopo Peri.

[13] Other relatively rarely performed works which the company has presented include Rameau's Dardanus (2009), Gounod's Le médecin malgré lui (2009), Hindemith's Neues vom Tage (2009), Busoni's Turandot (2011), and Mysliveček's L'Olimpiade (2013).