Qualla: Opera de Monte-Carlo https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:30 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Opera de Monte-Carlo https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo Opera de Monte-Carlo: Introduction https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo/ Photo credit José Luiz, CC BY-SA 3.0. Sarah Bernhardt appeared dressed as a nymph. It was 25 January 1879, and the hall that would become one of Europe's most storied opera houses was being inaugurated not with an opera but with a performance by the most famous actress in France. The first opera, Robert Planquette's Le Chevalier Gaston, followed two weeks later on 8 February. Charles Garnier, the architect who had spent fourteen years on the monumental Paris Opera, had designed this intimate theater in just eight and a half months -- a jewel box hidden inside the Monte Carlo Casino.

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Image: José Luiz | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/spv2-opera-de-monte-carlo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Opera de Monte-Carlo: A Casino's Concert Hall https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo/ Photo credit Zil, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the 1870s, Monaco offered its wealthy visitors gambling and little else. Prince Charles III and the Societe des Bains de Mer decided the casino needed cultural diversions, and they commissioned Garnier to add a concert hall. The main entrance opened from the casino floor; Char...

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Image: Zil | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/spv2-opera-de-monte-carlo-a-casinos-concert-hall.mp3 0:06 2 full Opera de Monte-Carlo: Gunsbourg's Sixty-Year Reign https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo/ Photo credit Leandro Neumann Ciuffo, CC BY 2.0. The opera company's trajectory changed with two arrivals: Raoul Gunsbourg, who became director in 1892, and Princess Alice, the opera-loving American wife of Prince Albert I. Gunsbourg remained for sixty years, an astonishing tenure during which the Salle Garnier became a genuine...

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Image: Leandro Neumann Ciuffo | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/spv2-opera-de-monte-carlo-gunsbourgs-sixty-year-reign.mp3 0:06 3 full Opera de Monte-Carlo: Voices in a Small Room https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo/ Photo credit Yair Haklai, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Salle Garnier's intimate scale meant that audiences heard the greatest voices of the twentieth century at close range. Nellie Melba and Enrico Caruso sang La boheme and Rigoletto here in 1902. Feodor Chaliapin created the title role in Massenet's Don Quichotte in 1910, part o...

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Image: Yair Haklai | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/spv2-opera-de-monte-carlo-voices-in-a-small-room.mp3 0:06 4 full Opera de Monte-Carlo: Gala Nights and Quiet Seasons https://qualla.com/opera-de-monte-carlo/ Photo credit Jordiferrer, CC BY-SA 4.0. Three times in its history, the opera house has been transformed into a spectacular gala dining venue: in 1966 for the centenary of Monte Carlo, hosted by Grace Kelly and Rainier III; for the royal wedding of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene; and in 2013 for the Love Ball, ...

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Image: Jordiferrer | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/v/2/opera-de-monte-carlo-wp/spv2-opera-de-monte-carlo-gala-nights-and-quiet-seasons.mp3 0:06 5 full