The production by Pier Luigi Pizzi (direction, set and costumes) of Thaïs by Jules Massenet, which was performed at the Malibran in 2002 conducted by the late Marcello Viotti, will return to La Fenice (ninth appointment of the season) with five performances on 21, 23, 25, 27 and 30 October 2007. The opera will be conducted by Emmanual Villaume, choreography by Georghe Iancu, lighting by Sergio Rossi. The main performers include Darina Takova (Thaïs), Simone Alberghini (Athanaël), Kostyantyn Andreyev (Nicias), Nicolas Courjal (Palémon), Christine Buffle (Crobyle) and Elodie Méchain (Myrtale).

Salammbô, Hérodiade, Dalila, Carmen, Manon… are just some of the female portrayals of sensual exotismism, both irresistible and ‘damned’ that were offered to the French public in both opera and literature during the second half of the nineteenth century. In the figure of man who is led to ruin, the subjects of sensual and immoral exotism, the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, the divergence between mystic aspiration and material seduction all find their uplifting outlet in moral admonition and the perfect incarnation of widespread and ‘forbidden’ sexual fantasies in the femme fatale.