The primitive and the exotic, major sources of Baroque creators… At the origin of major artistic trends and even revolutions, the discovery or rereading of sources considered “archaic”, “primitive” or popular… Thus in the 17th and 18th centuries, composers took possession of “exotic” cultures. Pascal Bertin, artistic director of Pontoise Baroque Festival (from September 2024 – act I of the 2024 festival) -, questions the passion of the Baroque for these exoticisms which take you on a journey and a change of scenery:
« Paintings, opera-ballet (from the turcerie of bourgeois Gentleman from Lully to Rameau’s Indes galantes), literature, culinary novelties… one mode chases the other, the novel of chivalry gives way to the Arabian Nights, the philosophical tale allows us to travel without leaving the Court and we are damned for coffee, chocolate and other spices from the ends of the world… »
The preserved, celebrated time is that of movements, crossbreeding, crossed cultures and exchanges… An era which should inspire ours, where hatred and intolerant communitarianism threaten. From September 2024, the Baroque Festival of Pontoise recalls the virtue of respect, curiosity, peaceful otherness, a source of inestimable cultural and human enrichment…
“INSPIRE”: Exotic and fraternal music
Pontoise, land of crossbreeding and multicultural exchanges
Silesian music brought into fashion by Telemann, Revelries from Spain (which have their own source in Portugal in the 15th century), turkish walk of Mozart, without omitting the trifles et fantasies “oriental” by Vivaldi, Marais, Bach; but also Scottish and Irish tunes and songs recycled by Haydn and Beethoven; and what can we say about the oriental romanticism of Hugo; of luminous suavity, in love with Lakmé of Delibes or Pearl fishermen by Bizet; then this hypnotic languor of Saint-Saëns of Samson and Delilah (and its formidable “ bacchanale ») ?
Under the seal of this compelling desire, the dream and the change of scenery, Pascal Bertin has chosen the theme of travel as a common thread for the next edition of the Pontoise Baroque Festival… From southern Italy to the Middle East, via central Europe, Ireland, China, Spain, Scotland, Scandinavia, South America and the Regions of France for festive and virtuoso shows… “INSPIRE” is therefore the key word of the 2024 Festival: artistic inspiration and a return to the sources, that of a rediscovered nature ( with the myth of the noble savage), ideal “in line with the environmental priorities of the Festival”. This is what is said.
5 Event programs
This is evidenced by the 5 event programs below selected by the CLASSIQUENEWS Editorial Team: all express the ardent, curious and respectful fraternity where musical art reweaves the fabulous history of human relationships… Vincent Dumestre et The Harmonic Poem evokes the noisy and fervent Naples of Pergolasin a lively and theatrical scene where the text of the Stabat Mater is enriched with popular and traditional music… for a Christian mix that is both solemn and tumultuous, deep and whimsical.
For his part, Storm conducted by Simon-Pierre Bestion expresses the ardor and expectations of nomadic lives in “ Mists », table ofa community of travelers whose journey is punctuated by the music of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler… in a spatialized scenography of which the conductor and his musicians now hold the secret.
The Mediterranean Chapel offer to the soprano Mariana Floresemblematic lyrical voice of the ensemble founded, directed by Leonardo Garcia Alarcona scene no less colorful and embodied where Latin American women express doubts, aspirations, joys and loves in a tour of songs from Argentina, the Cujo wine region and other regions of South America. Then it is Camille Delaforge and his formidable ensemble Caravaggiothe aptly named, which explores in contrasts and languorous vertigo, the virtuoso gesture of the sculptor Pygmalion who, according to Ovid, falls in love with his own sculpture and obtains from Venus that the marble becomes flesh and blood… Alongside the famous Sing by Rameau (1747), Il Caravaggio also exhumes that ofAntoine Bailleuxmixed with the popular air of the stonemason…
ALL THE INFORMATIONall programs, distribution details, online ticketing, directly on the website of the FESTIVAL BAROQUE DE PONTOISE 2024, ACT I
From September 28 > December 13, 2024:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/
HIGHLIGHTS
selection of concerts events
Saturday September 28, 202418h
PONTOISE, Saint-Maclou Cathedral
A Neapolitan Stabat mater
Le Harmonic Poem
Vincent Dumestredirection
INFO and reservations:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/samedi-28-septembre-2024-18h00-cathedrale-saint-maclou-pontoise-le-poeme-harmonique-vincent-dumestre
Saturday October 5, 202420h30
HERBLAY SUR SEINE, Roger Barat Theater
MISTS
The Tempest / Simon-Pierre Bestiondirection
INFO and reservations:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/samedi-5-octobre-2024-20h30-theatre-roger-barat-herblay-sur-seine-la-tempete
Friday October 18, 202420h30
PONTOISE, Notre-Dame Church
ALFONSINE
Mediterranean Chapel, Mariana Flores
INFO and reservations:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/vendredi-18-octobre-2024-20h30-eglise-notre-dame-pontoise-capella-mediterranea
Saturday October 19, 202418h
PONTOISE, Saint-Maclou Cathedral
RAMEAU : Pygmalion
Caravaggio / Camille Delaforgedirection
INFO and reservations:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/samedi-19-octobre-2024-18h00-cathedrale-saint-maclou-pontoise-ensemble-il-caravaggio
Friday, December 13, 202420h30
PONTOISE, Note-Dame Church
SILENT NIGHT
Swallow of the Sea / Arianna Savall, Petter Uddland-Johanssen
INFO and reservations: https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/vendredi-13-decembre-2024-20h30-eglise-notre-dame-pontoise-hirundo-maris
ALL THE INFORMATIONall programs, distribution details, online ticketing, directly on the website of the PONTOISE BAROQUE FESTIVAL 2024ACT I – September 28 > December 13, 2024:
https://www.festivalbaroque-pontoise.fr/
: September 28 > December 13, 2024. INSPIRE: exoticisms… The Harmonic Poem, Cappella Mediterranea, Mariana Flores, Il Caravaggio, The Tempest…){kind=link}