Grand Théâtre de Genève

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Grand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.

During the Reformation, opera in Geneva was limited by Calvinist orthodoxy and it was not until the middle 1760s that the city fathers agreed to build an opera house. Under the influence of Voltaire opera began to flourish at La Grange aux Extrangers and its successor theatre, the Teatre de Neuve, both of which were located outside the walls of the city.

By 1872 a competition was sponsored for the creation of a new opera house. But, in spite of a clear winner, a non-competitor, Jacques-Élysée Goss, was awarded the commission and he produced what Beauvert describes as "a pale copy of the Palais Garnier in Paris". After construction was started in 1874, the house opened on 2nd October 1879 with a production of Rossini’s William Tell.

The theatre survived until May 1951 when a fire destroyed the house during a rehearsal of Die Walkure, leaving only the walls and foyer in recoverable state. Within a year the auditorium was redesigned with 1,500 seats, and it re-opened in 1962 with a production of Verdi’s Don Carlo. Backstage enlargements created two side stages, and a rear stage for scenery control; the auditorium had two balconies plus an upper amphitheatre area.

However, the new house “remained a relatively dim outpost for opera for yet another century – with certain exceptions” notes Beauvert who explains that in the 1890s, the house saw a world premiere production in French of Massenet’s Werther. This was followed well into the 20th Century by significant productions under Hugues Gall (who led the opera company from the 1980s, but who went on to lead the Opéra National de Paris after 1995.