The Opéra Orchestre national de Montpellier is the city's main home for opera and orchestral music, and the base of the national orchestra that bears its name. It sits in Montpellier, the lively university city in Occitania, in the south of France.
What to expect
The programme is broad. Visitors can find opera productions, symphonic concerts and other performing arts events across the season, so the evening you choose will shape the experience. Whether you come for a full opera or an orchestral evening, the performances are the reason to visit.
- Opera, staged by the house itself
- Symphonic concerts, played by the resident national orchestra
- Other performing arts, which vary from season to season
Making a visit of it
Because the house is a working opera and concert venue, it suits a planned evening rather than a casual stop. Check the current season before you travel, as the programme changes. Montpellier itself gives you plenty to fill the hours around a performance: a compact historic centre, a busy square and cafés where you can eat before or after the show. Allow time to walk the old streets, and you will get a fuller sense of the city than from the theatre alone.
Going to the opera in a city you do not know can feel formal, but this is a place that welcomes first-time visitors who come for the music.