Tenebrae, Lalande

Le Poème Harmonique
Director Vincent Dumestre

 

Michel-Richard Delalande was the most influential and talented of the composers of sacred works employed at the Versailles court in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He made a major contribution to the corpus of sacred music for female voices, at a time when such music was generally regarded as a male preserve. These compositions include the magnificent Leçons de Ténèbres and Miserere, works that are both technically elaborate and eloquently expressive. They were composed ‘pour les dames de l’Assomption et chantez par Mesdemoiselles De la Lande à l’admiration de tout Paris’ (for the ladies of [the convent of] the Assumption and sung by the Misses De la Lande to the admiration of the Parisian élite). With its use of ostinato chromatic basses in the continuo, its long, expressive rests, and the very careful setting of the texts, the Leçons de Ténèbres is a most eloquent work, showing this great composer at the height of his musical skills.

Since it has been created in 2001, this program has been applauded in France and in Europe (Cologne Philharmonic, Festival of Sacred Music Granada Festival, Misteria Paschalia Krakow...), United States (San Francisco Calperfomances) and Latin America (Festival of Havana in Cuba, Campos do Jordao Festival in Brazil). Its record has received many awards from the French and foreign press.

Le Poème Harmonique
Formed in 1998, Le Poème Harmonique is a group of soloists, gathered around its artistic director Vincent Dumestre. Its artistic activity, focused on vocal and instrumental music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, is regularly enriched by interaction with other disciplines. This synthesis of arts, linked with real teamwork (working together as a company), signs the singularity of Le Poème Harmonique in Baroque worldwide landscape today.

Actors, dancers, circus artists and puppeteers join its singers and musicians in programs of chamber works and, since 2004, in large-scale stage productions, such as Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme by Molière and Lully and Baroque Carnival. For operatic performances, such as Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione and Cavalli’s Egisto, Le Poème Harmonique studies in depth the correspondences between ‘period’ aesthetics – use of candles for lighting, painted sets, authentic gestures and machinery – and the aesthetics of modern stage productions. The ensemble also gets back to the sources of early French and Italian music by exploring its relationships with traditional or folk music. The recording entitled Aux Marches du Palais, for instance, is devoted to French songs of oral tradition.

Since it has been founded, the ensemble has made many concert tours in Europe and has appeared all over the world. It has a particularly strong rapport with audiences in Rome, New York and Tokyo.

Tickets: Lt20, LT40 / €5.79, €11.58
Tickets are available at "Bilietai LT" box offices, at the Museum, and online at www.bilietai.lt. Book online...

Organized by French Institute in Lithuania / Institut français de Lituanie
Co-organizer National Museum Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania
Partners: VEOLIA, ClearChannel
Media partners: "Lietuvos rytas", "lrytas.lt", "Veidas"