The Opéra de Monte-Carlo has announced that Italian mezzo Cecilia Bartoli will succeed Jean-Louis Grinda in 2023 and become the first woman to lead this opera house. Bartoli, who created the Monaco based ensemble Les Musiciens du Prince in 2016, said, “It is a great honour and a great responsibility, and I want to thank wholeheartedly for their confidence, HSH the Sovereign Prince, HRH the Princess of Hanover and the Board of Directors of the Opera.Thank you also to Jean-Louis Grinda, his friendship, to have thought of me and his promise to stay with his advice available to me, and to those of the Opera, as a counsellor.” Grinda is the opera’s director since 2007.