Boston Early Music Festival: Vocal, Chamber and Dance Ensembles (USA)
Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s
La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers
and La Couronne de Fleurs
For the first time ever, Victoria audiences will have the opportunity to experience a semi-staged baroque opera, performed in a period style by one of the world’s leading baroque music ensembles. Close to thirty singers, dancers and musicians will perform a double bill of operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, first played for the Dauphin of France. This is the most ambitious production in EMSI’s almost thirty-year history.
Two jewels of the French Baroque, the operas are a brilliant fusion of music, drama, and dance. Paul O’Dette and Stephen Stubbs, reigning authorities on early music, lead the internationally acclaimed singers, instrumentalists, and dancers of the Boston Early Music Festival.
Orphée is a blend of two operas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The operas, dating from 1685 and 1686, are presented as a play within a play – a musical contest framing the story of Orpheus and Euridice.
La Couronne de Fleurs, based on a text by Molière, depicts a musical contest in tribute to Louis XIV as shepherds vie for a crown of flowers from the goddess Flora for the most beautiful and eloquent aria. These miniature masterpieces showcase one of the great composers of the French Baroque. The short opera La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers is presented as a further entry in the poetic contest, telling the famous story of Orphée, who decends into the underworld to use his musical powers to rescue his beloved Euridice. These miniature masterpieces showcase one of the great composers of the French Baroque.
Playful, elegant, and haunting, this performance is a perfect melding of consummate musicianship and exhilarating theatricality.
A must-see for those who love the art of the Baroque and the glory of Opera!
“musically intelligent and dramatically affecting” THE BOSTON GLOBE
Co-presented with Pacific Opera Victoria
Concert programme
Synopsis of the operas
Libretti: La Couronne de Fleurs
Libretti: La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers
French Baroque Opera by Robert Holliston
Visit the Boston Early Music Festival webpage
See Tickets for purchasing information
Behind-the-Scenes Preview video by Kathy Wittman, Ball Square Films.
Boston Early Music Festival
Founded in 1980, the Boston Early Music Society has long been one of the leading groups in the performance of music from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras, acclaimed internationally for their artistry, technical polish, style, scrupulous research, and above all excitement and drama. This is a perfect opportunity for Victorians to acquaint ourselves with the bewitching and unique world of French Baroque opera, made only more perfect by the performers. NOT TO BE MISSED!!
Cast and Creative Team
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Opera Series
- Paul O’Dette & Stephen Stubbs, Musical Directors
- Gilbert Blin, Stage Director
- Anna Watkins, Costume Designer
- Melinda Sullivan, Choreographer
Boston Early Music Festival Vocal Ensemble
- Aaron Sheehan, Orphée
- Mireille Asselin, Flore and Proserpine
- Jesse Blumberg, Apollon and Pan
- Tyler Duncan, Silvandre and Pluton
- Danielle Reutter-Harrah, Hyacinte
- Jason McStoots, Forestan and Ixion
- Carrie Henneman Shaw, Rosélie and Euridice
- Teresa Wakim, Amarante and Enone
- Brenna Wells, Daphné
- Zachary Wilder, Mirtil and Tantale
Boston Early Music Festival Chamber Ensemble
- Cynthia Roberts, concertmaster
- Tekla Cunningham, violin
- Laura Jeppesen, viola da gamba
- Christel Thielmann, viola da gamba
- Beiliang Zhu, viola da gamba
- Geoffrey Burgess, oboe & recorder
- Kathryn Montoya, oboe & recorder
- Avi Stein, harpsichord
- Paul O’Dette, Baroque guitar and theorbo
- Stephen Stubbs, Baroque guitar and theorbo
Boston Early Music Festival Dance Ensemble
- Ben Delony
- Caitlin Klinger
- Alexis Silver
- Andrew Trego
- Ryan Began, Actor
Personnel Subject to Change