Aedes is proud to present its young audience opera Argos and Grigoria, an original opera in three acts composed by Vincent Bouchot and directed by Jeanne Desoubeaux. Intended for a family audience, this short piece is rich in drama and poetic emotion, presenting an inventive, amusing and sensitive experience of the world of opera.

Inspired by two tales, Jean Tardieu’s L’Île des lents et l’île de vifs (Slowpokes’ Island and Hurryups’ Island) and Jules Verne’s Une fantaisie du docteur Ox (Dr Ox’s Experiment), Argos and Grigoria takes place in an invented setting where two towns live at different speeds : Speed-City’s inhabitants are jumpy, busy, full of energy, hurried and stressed, whereas in Slow-Town everybody is calm, thoughtful, slow and even philosophical. The intrepid Argos and the indolent Grigoria have their work cut out for them in order for their love to triumph over their radically opposed ways of life whose rhythms and pulses are constantly at war… one love exploding with ardour, the other lolling in pleasure. Can they bring their emotions into harmony?

Originally conceived as a participatory opera, the project’s premiere at the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne bringing together some hundred primary schoolchildren, the pedagogical aspect of both plot and staging is an essential part of this work. Argos and Grigoria uses its five characters and piano accompaniment to show the audience how operas work and to encourage them to consider the meaning of difference and exchange between people.