Opéra de Limoges, Opera house in Limoges, France

The Opéra de Limoges stands on place Stalingrad in the city centre, next to the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional. The current building, designed by Pierre Sonrel and inaugurated in March 1963, replaced the former Cirque-Théâtre on the same site. Its auditorium holds up to 1,484 seats, and a movable ceiling can be lowered to cut capacity to 939 for certain shows.

The first municipal theatre opened on 29 March 1840 on what is now place de la République. A Cirque-Théâtre was approved in 1911, but the First World War delayed the work and it opened only in October 1926. The present building by Pierre Sonrel replaced it, inaugurated in March 1963 in the presence of mayor Louis Longequeue, Michel Maurice-Bokanowski and Gaëtan Picon.

The name changed from Grand théâtre to Opéra-théâtre and, in January 2016, to Opéra de Limoges. The resident orchestra of forty musicians and a choir of twenty-two singers perform here, and the venue also hosts the Festival des francophonies en Limousin. Alain Mercier has directed it since 2010.

The opera sits on Place Stalingrad in the city centre, about twelve minutes from the Bénédictins station. Trolleybus lines 4, 5 and 6, standard and secondary bus lines 8, 10, 12, 18, 20, 24, 28, 31, 34 and 46, night lines 21 and 22, and Sunday lines d4, d5, d8 and d10 of the TCL network serve it. The hall holds 1,484 seats, reduced to 939 when the mobile ceiling is lowered.

The hall features an innovative ceiling system that optimally adapts room acoustics and use depending on the performance. This technical solution from the 1960s was a pioneering achievement in European opera house design at that time.