By: Frank Cadenhead<\/p>\n
Last Tuesday, a new theater opened in the 10th Arrondissement of Paris. Well, it was not exactly \u201cnew\u201d but, thanks to a visionary couple, \u201cLa Scala de Paris\u201d is reborn as a 550 seat performing arts center. Recently home to some 200 pigeons, it had, before that, been a porno cinema.<\/p>\n
Completed in 1873, the theater was a well-known place for caf\u00e9s-concerts<\/em> during the Belle Epoque<\/em>. Converted in 1936 to a splendid Art d\u00e9co<\/em> cinema, in 1977 it evolved into a porno multiplex but has been closed since 1999.<\/p>\n The couple who took on the project of reopening the theater, M\u00e9lanie and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Biessy, have invested some 19 million euros in this project and the theater now has modern equipment and 220 adjustable acoustic panels. It normally seats 550 but can be expanded to 800 to accommodate different-sized events. The restored interior was created and managed by Richard Peduzzi, who created sets with Patrice Ch\u00e9reau for both his theater and opera productions.<\/p>\n The theater has its eye on younger audiences and composer Philippe Manoury has created a \u201csonic identity\u201d for the theater. His music, he reports, \u201cis not recorded music but algorithms who play with probability factors. These \u2018sound forms\u2019 play from 11 am to 1 in the morning. At the end of 365 days, the parameters return to zero but with all the different combinations, it will be practically impossible to hear the same thing twice in a row. My great challenge is to discover the means to create music without the intervention of the composer.\u201d<\/p>\n Opening events include young pianists Francesco Tristano and Bertrand Chamayou, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and writer Yasmina Reza talking of her father\u2019s fascination with Beethoven\u2019s Hammerklavier<\/em> Sonata. The theater\u2019s site: https:\/\/lascala-paris.com. A television news introduction to the theater (in French): \u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-3hVEcwDFiY<\/p>\n