An original creation, a unique show: at the crossroads of baroque music and the circus arts, this Carnival tells the story of a festive day in Rome.
An original creation, a unique show: at the crossroads of baroque music and the circus arts, this Carnival tells the story of a festive day in Rome. From a picturesque feast to street theatre and a manhunt along the alleyways, singers and acrobats enchant us with their dances and popular songs.
In Baroque Rome, Carnival lasted for ten days, during which the inhabitants exhausted their appetite for feasting and debauchery before entering Lent. Vincent Dumestre and Cécile Roussat recreate this atmosphere of pleasure and passion in this enchanting, colourful show. Acrobats, jugglers, mimes and, of course, singers and instrumentalists cross the stage to bring to life the spectacles and intrigues of the period, from the palace to the street. The meeting of the singers‘ voices and the mimes’ bodies brings this carnivalesque energy to life: we are taken from a gargantuan banquet to impressive street scenes, then projected into a trestle theatre set up to parody Monteverdi and his Lamento della Ninfa. All these episodes unfold to the sound of famous or previously unpublished 17th-century Italian arias, the repertoire for which Le Poème Harmonique is renowned. Commedia dell'arte and the circus arts meet irresistible chaconnes, moresques and tarantellas. In this way, the artists revive a tremendous popular celebration, exalting echoes of pagan rituals and the triumph of life over the harshness of existence.
In Baroque Rome, Carnival lasted for ten days, during which the inhabitants exhausted their appetite for feasting and debauchery before entering Lent. Vincent Dumestre and Cécile Roussat recreate this atmosphere of pleasure and passion in this enchanting, colourful show. Acrobats, jugglers, mimes and, of course, singers and instrumentalists cross the stage to bring to life the spectacles and intrigues of the period, from the palace to the street. The meeting of the singers‘ voices and the mimes’ bodies brings this carnivalesque energy to life: we are taken from a gargantuan banquet to impressive street scenes, then projected into a trestle theatre set up to parody Monteverdi and his Lamento della Ninfa. All these episodes unfold to the sound of famous or previously unpublished 17th-century Italian arias, the repertoire for which Le Poème Harmonique is renowned. Commedia dell'arte and the circus arts meet irresistible chaconnes, moresques and tarantellas. In this way, the artists revive a tremendous popular celebration, exalting echoes of pagan rituals and the triumph of life over the harshness of existence.