Jean-Claude Fall

With Maria Republica, François Paris fulfills a quarter-century-old dream of writing an opera. It was in 1991, while still a student at the Paris Conservatory, that the composer met Augustin Gómez-Arcos and told him of his intention to write an opera based on his novel. The writer died in 1998, but thanks to the bold and ambitious artistic policy pursued by Jean-Paul Davois at the head of Angers Nantes Opéra, the project is now coming to fruition on stage at the Théâtre Graslin in Nantes.

An old couple, Eugenie and Armand, have been living in Paris since 1921 part of the wave of post-war immigration from Martinique. Eugenie, a former dancer with Josephine Baker's Black Revue has become a professional quimboiseuse (practising black magic) for a white clientele. Armand who had been a servant is retired. Now they are both old and bitter and still quarreling with each other. One day they set out, arm-in-arm for a last promenade in the metropolis.