Les Arts Florissants - Barbican

More documents

Recommendations

Info

introduction Les Arts Florissants at 30 What a difference a generation makes. In the past 30 years, the world of Baroque music-making has been transformed. Musicians had for a while been acquiring the skills of playing old instruments and rediscovering former playing styles, but it was only during the 1970s that these made a major impact on the wider public. Of course there had been pioneers before this: a whole generation of enthusiasts and researchers had explored old repertory, and Arnold Dolmetsch had played his clavichord in candlelit London drawing rooms to the delight of George Bernard Shaw and Percy Grainger. But this was essentially an esoteric activity – until a new generation of players and conductors launched themselves into the re-creation of Baroque ensembles in the 1970s. William Christie’s achievement with his French group Les Arts Florissants from 1979 onwards has been an outstanding part of this revival, for it grew out of a repertory that many had thought inaccessible – the distant world of the French Baroque, with its rich and dense texts, its complex ornamentation and rhetoric, and its unfamiliar emotional language. What Christie and his young ensemble achieved in spectacular fashion was to show how, when performed with penetrating understanding and vivid communication, this music could be made as available and exciting as any on offer. From Charpentier (who gave the ensemble its name) and Lully through to Rameau, Les Arts Florissants lit up this music and brought it to life with unparalleled success. Christie’s ensemble has moved from the French Baroque into Handel and Purcell, Monteverdi and Landi, and beyond that to Haydn and Mozart. It has gained a huge following for its fresh insights into Haydn’s The Creation and Monteverdi’s Vespers, and its staged operas here at the Barbican – the fantastical, video-dominated production of Rameau’s Les Paladins and Luc Bondy’s severely intense staging of Handel’s Hercules – have been among the highlights of our output. So it is appropriate that this anniversary season celebrates the historic achievement of Les Arts Florissants with opera (Purcell’s immortal Dido and Aeneas), oratorio (Handel’s rarely performed Susanna) and the French choral motets that the group has made its own. And it is also entirely typical of its work with younger artists that for two of these anniversary concerts, William Christie hands the baton on to directors of the next generation, Jonathan Cohen and Paul Agnew. Like the great music of the past, Les Arts Florissants will continue to reinvent itself as it looks towards the next 30 years. Nicholas Kenyon Managing Director 2
Les Arts Florissants 30th Anniversary Celebration William Christie and his ensemble present an exciting and diverse musical showcase celebrating their 30th anniversary Sun 18 Oct 09 7.30pm LSO St Luke’s Jonathan Cohen conducts Haydn’s Symphony No 80 and music by Mozart and Gluck. Returns only Sun 25 Oct 09 7pm A performance of Handel’s rarely-heard oratorio Susanna with soloists including William Burden, Alan Ewing and Sophie Karthäuser. Sun 8 Nov 09 7.30pm Union Chapel Talented British conductor and tenor Paul Agnew leads this performance of Monteverdi’s Sixth Book of Madrigals. Thu 26 Nov 09 7.30pm Grand Motets by Lully, Rameau, Desmarest and Campra with soloists including Patricia Petibon and Toby Spence. Watch video interviews and listen to music clips at www.greatperformers.org.uk Box Office 0845 120 7557 The Barbican is provided by the City of London Corporation
Page 1: Pascal Gély Sunday 18 October 2009
Page 5 and 6: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) P
Page 7 and 8: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Arias Idome
Page 9 and 10: D’ingrata al sangue mio So che la
Page 11 and 12: Fourth Symphony with Michael Tilson

Les Arts Florissants - Barbican

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?