On the occasion of UNESCO’s 2026 celebration of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the United Music Foundation continue their collaboration on preserving the institution’s sound archives. This new phase follows on from the pilot project carried out in 2025, in anticipation of the Grand Théâtre de Genève’s 150th anniversary in 2029.
This year, a new selection by the management of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, driven by its new General Director Alain Perroux, highlights eleven opera productions presented between 1982 and 1995, whose recordings are held in the institution’s archives.
These recordings were made at 19 cm/s (7.5 ips) on Agfa PEM 368, Agfa PEM 369 and BASF 911 magnetic tapes, and more recently on DAT cassettes. The tapes from these productions have been restored and digitised in high resolution to ensure the long-term preservation of this exceptional sound heritage.
The preserved tapes include works by composers such as Wagner (Lohengrin), Britten (Billy Budd), Handel (Jules César), Mozart (Les Noces de Figaro), Donizetti (Lucie de Lammermoor, Don Pasquale), Puccini (Gianni Schicchi), Gluck (Orphée), Mussorgsky (Boris Godunov), Frank Martin (Le Vin herbé) and Wolf-Ferrari (I Quatro Rusteghi).
Legendary performers of the lyric stage, including Ruggero Raimondi, Samuel Ramey, Anne Sofie von Otter, Tatiana Troyanos and Gabriel Bacquier, are among the artists whose voices are now preserved, providing a lasting tribute to the artistic history of the Grand Théâtre.
This new phase follows an initial selection of historical recordings from 1970 to 1997, preserved as part of the pilot project carried out in 2025. The project is set to continue over the coming years, gradually preserving further milestones in the artistic life of the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
This preservation project was carried out by the United Music Foundation with the support of a grant from the City of Geneva.
An audio clip from one of the preserved recordings will be unveiled on this page on October 27, 2026.
