A masked ball: passions, plots and disguises at the Opéra Bastille

The Opéra Bastille presents Giuseppe Verdi's Un bal masqué from January 27 to February 26, 2026, a lyrical fresco of forbidden love, betrayed loyalty and tragic destiny, set against a backdrop of disguises and conspiracies.

Inspired by the assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden in 1792, Un bal masqué initially aroused the suspicions of the censors. Verdi, forced to move the action, finally set his plot in Boston, at the time of the American Civil War. Riccardo, the city's governor, secretly loves Amelia, the wife of his most loyal friend, Renato. When Renato discovers the truth, he joins a conspiracy and kills Riccardo at a costume ball.

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Gilbert Deflo 's staging preserves the American setting while transposing the story to the 19th century, in a visual universe marked by tensions between rationality and superstition. Verdi's music, by turns luminous, serious and ironic, finely underscores the ambivalence of the characters and the build-up of dramatic tension.

Performed in Italian, with surtitles in French and English, this three-hour opera (with intermission) will appeal to lovers of lyrical tragedies and Verdian arias, as well as to those who wish to discover a work in which the ball, far from being a mere festive setting, becomes the theater of all revelations.

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The production is aimed at a wide audience, sensitive to Verdi's passionate narratives and romantic aesthetic. On the other hand, audiences unfamiliar with opera, or looking for shorter formats, may find this work demanding in terms of length and dramatic intensity.

A masked ball is to be discovered at theOpéra Bastille in a series of performances between January 27 and February 26, 2026. Tickets go on sale on September 23, 2025 at 12 noon.

This article is based on sources available online and the show has not been viewed.

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