Crédits photos : © BackLight
Winner of the Consumer Experience & Entertainment category at the Laval Virtual Awards 2026, the experience La Magie Opéra, produced by French studio Backlight in partnership with the Opéra National de Paris, took home the prize awarded on 9 April at the Espace Mayenne. Held in Laval for 28 years, Europe’s largest XR event recognises the most promising XR projects each year across a range of categories. The Consumer Experience & Entertainment category celebrates projects that invite the general public to live something extraordinary.
The experience does not simply show the Opéra Garnier: it literally immerses the audience inside it. The visitor plays a chorus extra in Carmen, alongside Céleste, a young prodigy freshly arrived in Paris who has just landed her first major role at the Palais Garnier. But Céleste is gripped by self-doubt after choosing to pursue a career in opera, and is about to flee on the very night of the performance. The audience crosses paths with her at the foot of the grand staircase, hears her confide her fears, and accompanies her on a journey through the Palais Garnier and iconic scenes from celebrated operas, in search of understanding and self-confidence.
The viewer becomes a character
On stage, the Backlight team chose to share the spotlight with the entire studio rather than centring the victory on a single name. “This award celebrates a collective effort. None of this would have been possible without an incredible team: artists, developers, animators, every member of the production crew brought extraordinary skill and imagination to each stage of the process, and did so in a record time of just four months.”
The experience, multi-user and 25 minutes long, draws on three powerful female figures from the operatic repertoire: Rusalka, Tosca and Carmen. “I did not want to privilege any one of these three heroines over the others. Each of them, in their own way, has represented a step forward for feminism, or carried something very powerful for women through the history of opera,” explains the creative team. Céleste, the main character embodied by the audience, is conceived as an echo of these figures: the question of finding one’s place, between the legacy of independent women who came before her and her own path to forge.
Three opera heroines, one common thread
The production combines motion capture to bring the characters to life (Céleste, Rusalka, Tosca, Scarpia, Carmen, members of the chorus) and the voices of real opera singers, recorded during live performances, to anchor the experience in genuine musical authenticity. The result ran for four months at the Palais Garnier before embarking on a tour of other cultural venues, including the national theatre Lux in Valence, ahead of summer performances. The Backlight team, which counts more than 70 immersive experiences and 60 international awards since its founding in 2008, is now looking for new venues to continue the adventure of La Magie de l’Opéra, as well as its future productions.
