To give Parisian opera-goers a taste of exoticism, works would be set in faraway lands, from Spain and Portugal – departure points for exploration of the world – to Egypt and Arabia, via India and Japan. The authors would transport the audience far away from their everyday lives with the help of scenery and costumes, but also by presenting new forms of sensuous pleasure. And composers would evoke that exoticism without neglecting the charms of the French art. Jodie Devos and Éléonore Pancrazi, accompanied on the piano by François Dumont, explore that repertoire, with excerpts from operas that have been forgotten, but also from well-known ones, such as Lakmé and Carmen.
