Conference | Maud Pouradier

Opera is not only a musical work, but a fictional work in which the characters speak while singing (parlare cantando, according to Monteverdi's expression), and in which instrumental music is present almost continuously. Unlike other forms of musical theater, opera has been accused of implausibility. However, to love opera, one must understand its own plausibility and not treat singing as an arbitrary convention. It is not despite singing, but thanks to singing that opera tells good stories, surpassing the theatrical medium (think of Don Giovanni, Pelléas et Mélisande, or Dialogues des Carmélites). But then, what is the world of opera, and how does it differ from our own? What are the implications for opera staging ?

Maud Pouradier is a former student of the École Normale Supérieure (2001) and has been a lecturer in aesthetics and philosophy of art at the University of Caen since 2012, authorized to supervise research. She has also been a member of the Institut Universitaire de France since 2025 and vice-president of the Société Française d'Esthétique. In 2012, she edited the dossier Pourquoi l'opéra ? (Why Opera?) in the Nouvelle Revue d'Esthétique, and in 2023 she published Parler en chantant. Une philosophie de l'opéra (Speaking in Song: A Philosophy of Opera) with Éditions du Cerf, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on opera. The latest, “Réactiver l'opéra au XXIe siècle” (Reviving Opera in the 21st Century), was published in 2026 in Les Arts en action, edited by Alessandro Arbo and Roger Pouivet, by Presses universitaires de Rennes.

Discover our 2025-26 lecture series

This lecture series is a co-production of the Musées nationaux du XXe siècle des Alpes-Maritimes and the Direction de la Culture de Université Côte d’Azur, in partnership with the CRHI - Centre de Recherches en Histoire des Idées, and with the support of the association des amis du musée national Marc Chagall.

Photo : © DR, 2025