Plk Les Comptes

Les Barbares was premièred at the Paris Opéra (Palais Garnier) in October 1901, having originally been intended for the Roman theatre of Orange, in Provence. Rather than concentrating on bloodshed and slaughter, the plot focuses on the evolution of the relationship between Floria, the chief vestal, and Marcomir, the leader of the Barbarians, with the musical interest of the opera culminating furthermore in their splendid duet at the end of Act II. Saint-Saëns, like Massenet too at that time, shows here his ability to adapt his style to suit his literary inspiration. Les Barbares is in the same vein as Berliozs Les Troyens and contemporary with Faurés Pénélope.

Jordi Savall is an exceptional figure in today’s music world. For more than thirty years he has been devoted to the rediscovery of neglected musical treasures: thirty years of research, study and interpretation, both as violist and musical director. He has restored an essential repertoire to all those with ears to hear it. Beyond the happy few who already revered the instrument, he has created a wide audience for the viola da gamba, an instrument so refined that it takes us to the very brink of silence.

Saint-Saëns's first opera, Le Timbre d'argent initially composed in 1864 need not fear comparison with some of the most celebrated works in the nineteenth-century French repertory. It depicts the nightmare of a man whose hallucinations anticipate by twenty years the fantastical apparitions of Offenbach's Les Contes d Hoffmann.

Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio is an exciting drama of life, love and death, set in the 4th century Roman Empire. Preferring to devote her life to God, Teodosia rejects the love of Arsenio, the son of the Roman governor, and welcomes death. St. Theodosia of Tyre died at the age of 18, in the year 308. One cannot help but be struck by the dramatic strength and the vocal beauty of this work, performed here by a very talented cast, including Emmanuelle de Negri, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Anthea Pichanick, Renato Dolcini and the fiery orchestra, Les Accents, led by Thibault Noally.