The Opéra Comique in Paris has a long tradition of giving stylish performances dating back to the 18th century. Five imaginative and critically acclaimed productions are featured in this collection of French operatic masterpieces. Bizet’s Carmen, which received its premiere at the Opéra Comique in 1875, is performed on period instruments conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet features the stellar French baritone Stéphane Degout in the title role. Messager exemplifies the spirit of La Belle Époch in Fortunio; Gounod fuses Romanticism with the supernatural in La Nonne sanglante; and the outstanding French soprano Sabine Devieilhe takes the lead role in Delibes’s tragic tale of passion and loyalty, Lakmé – one of the jewels of the Opéra Comique.