After a celebrated career as a composer of lighthearted operetta, Jacques Offenbach turned his hand to more serious fare—only to die before his one true opera was completed. That work, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, was based on a play that strung together a collection of stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann and cast the famed poet as the protagonist of his own tales. In this performance from the 2024–25 Live in HD season, French tenor Benjamin Bernheim stars as Hoffmann, four times unlucky in love. Alongside him as the objects of his affections, soprano Erin Morley is the high-flying automaton Olympia, mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine is the Venetian courtesan Giulietta, and soprano Pretty Yende is both the diva Stella and the ill-fated songstress Antonia. Bass-baritone Christian Van Horn portrays the four nefarious Villains who outwit Hoffmann at every turn, and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya is Hoffmann’s Muse and his companion Nicklausse, conducted by Marco Armiliato.
Benjamin Bernheim
as Hoffmann
Erin Morley
as Olympia
Pretty Yende
as Antonia / Stella
Clémentine Margaine
as Giulietta
Christian van Horn
as Lindorf / Coppélius / Dr. Miracle / Dapertutto
Vasilisa Berzhanskaya
as Muse / Nicklausse
Aaron Blake
as Andrès / Cochenille / Frantz / Pitichinaccio
Tony Stevenson
as Nathanaël / Spalanzani
Bradley Garvin
as Luther / Crespel
Jeongcheol Cha
as Hermann / Schlémil
Marco Armiliato
as Conductor
