Berlioz’s idea for an opera about the Trojan War and its aftermath has its roots in his childhood. The composer’s father used to read Virgil’s Aeneid to him, urging him to learn a few verses by heart every day; Berlioz was even given the name of the Trojan hero, Hector.

‘I have spent my life in the company of these demi-gods; I know them so well that I imagine they know me’, Berlioz wrote to his friend Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein, who encouraged him to take on the monumental task of composing the opera. Les Troyens is Berlioz’s most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career. It begins with the capture of Troy by the Greeks, as foretold by Cassandra, and ends with the death of Dido, the queen of Carthage, after her unhappy love affair with the Trojan, Aeneas.

The Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique last performed Berlioz’s Les Troyens in 2003, on Berlioz’s bicentenary, at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris – the first time the opera had been performed in Paris in its entirety. Now, twenty years on, we are joined by an exciting international cast for performances at some of the greatest festivals and venues in Europe.