Residential, hotel, and commercial projects, ranging from the Coucou in Méribel, to a penthouse in Tel Aviv, to a 17th-century castle in Provence. The only thing missing from Pierre Yovanovitch’s portfolio was a trophy for the performing arts.
The French interior architect, who is passionate about opera, has just designed his very first collaboration with the lyric theatre. A first that takes shape through the sumptuous set design of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto, presented at the Basel Theatre in Switzerland and directed by Vincent Huguet.
“I wanted a moving set that gradually closes in on the actors of this drama, as the drama, as the curse unfolds. I designed it to be bare so that these souls in disarray, these souls torturing themselves, could find their place. The décor symbolizes the rapid passage of time and, above all, what we have done with our lives and what it has done to us,” explains Pierre Yovanovitch.
The set consists of superimposed and curved walls that close in on each other to dangerously surround the characters throughout the plot.
These scenic changes are reinforced by the choice of colors for the curved sets, structured by a sculptural staircase, which are bright red, blue, and white, and which underline the acceleration of the drama that the spectator is witnessing. The spectator’s emotions intensify as the episodes of this Italian opera unfold.
Basel – Switzerland
Lisa Agostini
