Five years after the fire at the Notre-Dame de Paris, this brand-new multimedia production transports audiences through 800 years of music and architecture. Alana Valentine’s libretto tells the story of a female engineer who starts working at the cathedral on the very day it burns down – 15 April, 2019. Curated by Paul Dyer, the accompanying music includes the world premiere of l’aube (Dawn) by Australian composer Hugh Ronzani and the first performance on these shores of the Introite from André Campra’s 18th-century Messe de Requiem, composed while he was the Cathedral’s Music Director.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

It only took one tiny ember to spark the destruction of 800 years of history when Notre-Dame de Paris was partially consumed by fire in April 2019, igniting collective grief for the iconic eras, moments, and characters embodied in her halls.

While fire has the power to destroy, it also cleanses and purifies. The ashes create a canvas and illuminate the path forward, to bravely begin anew. Battered, dilapidated and restored. Witness to both revolution and miracles, the cathedral on the Île de la Cité has been an epicentre of musical innovation and choral transcendence since the first stone was laid, and its enduring spirit deserves to be celebrated.

Spirited, soulful and unapologetically French, Notre-Dame commemorates eight centuries of exquisite music performed within Notre-Dame de Paris. It is a story told in a moving theatrical experience of spoken word penned by award-winning playwright and director Alana Valentine, spurring from the mind of Artistic Director Paul Dyer, and brought to life by orchestral and choral music from the cathedral’s rich history.