"Virgin Queen" charmer, bastard child and mythical monarch, Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603) has aroused fascination for several centuries - among historians, poets, playwrights, painters and composers. Gaetano Donizetti dedicated no less than four of his operas to the Elizabethan era: Elisabetta al castello di Kenilworth (1829), Anna Bolena (1830), Maria Stuarda (1834) and Roberto Devereux (1837).

With Bastarda, the director and designer of the project Olivier Fredj and the conductor Francesco Lanzillotta propose to recast this unofficial tetralogy in an ambitious fresco in two evenings retracing the life of Elizabeth I. From emblematic moments of the four operas by Donizetti, it is a new score that will be composed for the benefit of an unprecedented dramaturgy. From a perspective that is both historical and psychological, the project explores the complex figure of a woman of power divided between reason of state and her most intimate feelings.

The result is a six-hour lyrical marathon, divided into two evenings: "For better, for worse ..." which relates Elizabeth's childhood and accession to the throne, and "Till death do us part" which relates its inevitable decline. To carry out this great epic, Olivier Fredj has surrounded himself with an exceptional team with, in particular, Urs Schönebaum for the lighting and the scenography, as well as the designer Petra Reinhardt for the costumes ...

It's easy.