Mars en Baroque

France / Marseille

Prima leparole? Prima la musica? No more squabbling over the primacy of words or music. This year, Mars en Baroque has made its choice: it will be ‘Prima l'Opera’, opera first and foremost!  With the Marseilles Opera celebrating its centenary, it was only natural to present the very first masterpiece of the genre, Monteverdi's Orfeo, universally famous yet never performed in Marseilles. It was also necessary to go back further, to the origins of the Marseilles people's passion for singing and the stage. It was in 1685 that Pierre Gaultier, with the permission of the all-powerful Lully, set up the first provincial opera house. At the Musée d'Histoire de Marseille, a concert will be devoted to the first splendours of French Baroque opera, focusing on Gaultier ‘de Marseille’ (as he was nicknamed, even though he was born in La Ciotat). But opera was not born in a day. It is in the rich repertoire of cantatas from the early Baroque period, a field of experience for the grand form, that the Italian ensemble Dolci Accenti has gone to seek inspiration for its ‘amorous’ programme. We'll also be plunging into the heart of Baroque opera with a concert by the great Roberta Mameli. Accompanied by the fiery Concert de l'Hostel Dieu, she will deploy all her talent to passionately embody a rare programme based on the figure of Hamlet.
As for the marvellous Rémy Bres, a countertenor from Marseilles with an international career, he will devote his concert to the triumph of this very special voice, which made a name for itself on the English stage. Between these moments dedicated to the voice, Mars en Baroque has provided some wonderful instrumental moments. Lucie Horsch's flute, for example, accompanied by the young and talented Justin Taylor, will embody a different vocality, one that every good instrumentalist seeks. Audiences will also be able to spend an hour with the most ‘operatic’ of keyboard composers, Georg Friedrich Handel. Opera was also an area of emancipation for women. But it's not through opera that the festival will be paying tribute to the female figure. Les Voix Animées have gone further back, to the 16th century, with the fascinating Maddalena Casulana, while the programme of the ensemble Una Corda will be more transversal and sacred. Concerts, lectures, city walks: Mars en Baroque invites you to more than a month of musical festivities.

Jean-Marc Aymes and Romain Bockler, artistic directors
Mars en Baroque

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