Queens of the Mediterranean
The Opera Gala of Véronique Gens
Mythical Heroines of Baroque Opera
Náměstí Míru 1450/7, Praha 2 - Vinohrady, 120 00
Programme
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Armide (1686), aria of Armida: Enfin il est en ma puissance
Atys (1676): Le Sommeil
André Campra
Le Carnaval de Venise (1699), aria of Isabella: Mes yeux fermez-vous à jamais
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Hippolyte et Aricie (1733), aria of Phaedra: Cruelle mère des amours
Le Temple de la Gloire (1745): Air tendre pour les muses
François Couperin
Les Nations (1726): L’Espagnole
Jean-Marie Leclair
Scylla et Glaucus (1746), aria of Circé: Noires divinités de la rive infernale a výběr instrumentálních kusů z opery
Concert for flute, strings and basso continuo op. 10 No. 3
Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer
Zaïde reine de Grenade (1739), aria of Zaide: Dieux des amants fidèles
Jean-Baptiste Stuck
Polydore (1720), aria of Ilione: C’en est donc fait
François Francœur & François Rebel
Scanderberg (1735), aria of Roxana: C’en est fait
Concert with intermission.
Expected end of the concert: 21:30.
Artists
François Nicolet – flauto traverso
Stefano Rossi, Tami Troman – housle
Alain Pégeot, Marco Massera – viola
Tormod Dalen – violoncello
Lucile Boulanger – viola da gamba
Ludovic Coutineau – kontrabas
Elisabeth Geiger – cembalo
Annotation
What do the sorceress Armida, the Cretan royal daughter Phaedra and the mythological temptress Circe have all in common? Their beauty and troubled fate, of course. Their stories, however, are also linked with the sea by which their dramas unfold. Often, the sea itself is the cause of these femmes-fatales’ predicament.
The French appellation is quite appropriate in this case since the sensibility of the heroines will be rendered by the fabulous soprano Véronique Gens from France who regularly collaborates with luminaries such as William Christie, René Jacobs or Philippe Herreweghe. This time she will be accompanied by Les Ambassadeurs conducted by the flutist Alexis Kossenko, who are great experts on the music of Lully, Rameau, Leclair and Couperin.
The opening performance of the ‘Mediterranean’ edition of the Summer Festivities of Early Music by eminent French musicians will thus remind us that the sea is closely related to female heroines, also because the sea itself is feminine in French: la mer.
Venue
Náměstí Míru 1450/7, Praha 2 - Vinohrady, 120 00
Show on mapPartners of the concert
In collaboration with Centre de musique baroque de Versailles and with kind support of French Institute.
