2020 I 2021 SEASON

MAGIC MOZARTA DELIGHTED CABARET !

STAGED CREATION

DIFFUSION JANUARY 2021

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Duration : 1h15 without interval

Numbers :  4 soloists, 42 musicians, 4 dancers, 1 wizard

Diffusion : Januray 2021

Concerts 2021 :

- January 2 and 3 janvier : Luxembourg

- January 10 : La Seine Musicale

- January 16 and 17 : Aix-en-Provence

- January 29 : Colombes

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This programme will be recorded for a Warner Classics-Erato disc.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)Excerpts from chosen works:Le Nozze di FigaroDie ZauberflöteCosi fan TutteDon GiovanniDer Stein der Weisen La Finta sempliceBastien und BastienneDie Entführung aus dem Serail

Olga Pudova, sopranoLea Desandre, mezzo-sopranoAlasdair Kent, tenor Armando Noguerra, baritoneCie 14:20Aragorn Boulanger, chorégraphyInsula orchestraLaurence Equilbey, conductor

MAGIC MOZARTA DELIGHTED CABARET !STAGE CREATION

ARTISTIC PROJECT

Mozart’s music is magic. Insula orchestra takes the statement literally, offering a selection of works and musical extracts in which the wonderment of magical experience is a central theme. Known by the music lovers as well as by the general public, these poetic or comical melodies, duos and ensembles are performed in a succession of short, diverting and enchanting acts.

The Magic Flute, Mozart’s last opera, composed in 1791, is of course the cornerstone, with its magic bells, bewitched animals and Queen of the Night. But we will also find there some characters from the Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, La Finta semplice, Bastien und Bastienne, or from the more unusual Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone).

This Magic Mozart will present three different climates: the kindness of white magic ; the tumult of love and passion, found in red magic - with such Arias as Don Giovanni’s Canzonetta or «Porgi amor» ; and finally, the torments of black magic, motivated by revenge and perfecly symbolized by the famous Queen of the Night Aria « Der Hölle Rache ».

For the stage version, Insula orchestra invited the company 14:20, pioneer of the New Magic arts movement, that, over the last 15 years, has been challenging our sensory equilibrium and sense of reality as a focus for its stage work, postulating magic as a rich and independent language, both popular and of its time. 14:20 has come up with a dizzying show replete with magic tricks for a Mozart programme that enchants as much as it is enchanted.

For these works, Laurence Equilbey conducts Insula orchestra with four top guest soloists.

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PROJECT PRESENTATION

Laurence Equilbey has dreamed up an original musical journey through Mozart’s greatest operatic arias. The company has imagined a bespoke theatrical setting focusing on the creative act and in which Mozart’s genius takes centre stage.

Great arias from masterpieces like The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Il Seraglio are united around the same creative energy, overflowing with vitality. Love and fury, two of Mozart’s key themes, produce astonishing scenes in which characters fly off or disappear into the magic of mirrors.

Fairytale shadows draw the audience into a universal imaginary space in which childhood is invited to join in the fun and lyricism of ballet.

In an immersive scenography, graphic and calligraphic arts are projected on a monumental scale engaging in a dialogue with dance and the singers, underscoring the music’s accents and enchanting the whole stage with flamboyant colours. For this new project, Cie 14:20 has invited guest artists with strongly individual personalities: 4 dancers, a magician, a theatre director, 8 technicians, shadow designers and painters who team up with the four outstanding singers. Inspired by music that is at once deep and joyous, the artists conjure up magical scenes imbued with illusion and poetry, in a show that harnesses multiple forms of artistic expression.

IN THE PRESS

« Insula orchestra, there are strings to infallible attacks, with agile and precise dexterity... »Patrick de Maria, La Marseillaise, 2 December 2017

«Laurence Equilbey, an intellectually powerful conductor with probing insight into the psychological nature of music, clearly knows how to rehearse and mold a performance. (...) This is what historically informed performance pratice is really about : learning where the expression, and contrasts, lives in the music. (...) Equilbey’s Insula orchestra plays beautifully, with a rich sound, and lacking the mannerism and stiffness that can sometimes weigh down period instrument ensembles»Brian Taylor, ZealNyc, 23 July 2018

BIOGRAPHIES  

LAURENCE EQUILBEYCONDUCTOR

Conductor and musical director of Insula orchestra and accentus, Laurence Equilbey is acknowledged for her demanding, yet open-minded approach to her art. Her exploration of the symphonic repertory has seen her conducting the orchestras of BBC of Wales, Hessischer Rundfunk, Lyon, Bucarest, Liège, Leipzig, Brussels Philharmonic, Café Zimmermann, Akademie für alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, Camerata Salzburg, Mozarteumorchester Salzburg…In 2012, with support from the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, she founded Insula orchestra, an ensemble devoted to the classical and pre-Romantic repertory, using period instruments. With accentus, Laurence Equilbey continues to interpret the great vocal music repertoire. Laurence Equilbey supports contemporary creation and she’s also Artistic Director and Director of Education at the Department for Young Singers at the Paris Conservatory.

The extensive recorded work of accentus has received wide critical acclaim. In 2014, she recorded with Insula orchestra Mozart’s Requiem on the naïve label; then Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Franco Fagioli, released in September 2015 on the Deutsche Grammophon label (Archiv Produktion). With Warner Classics –Erato, Laurence Equilbey has released Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Schubert’s orchestrated lieder (2017).

CIE 14:20 – CLÉMENT DEBAILLEUL ET RAPHAËL NAVARRO STAGE DESIGN

Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro founded Compagnie 14:20 in 2000, and with Valentine Losseau, stage director, playwright and anthropologist, founded the New Magic art movement that they have championed ever since. Their artistic vision addresses core issues of sensorial balance and reappropriated reality.

Cie 14:20 has signed a number of high-profile Paris productions: Nous, rêveurs définitifs (2016) at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, Wade in the Water (2016) with the Théâtre national de Chaillot at CENTQUATRE-Paris, and Faust (2018) at the Comédie française-Vieux-Colombier.

Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro are involved in a number of parallel projects and collaborations.

Clément Debailleul develops projects with shadows designer Philippe Beau, stage director Galin Stoev and Philippe Awat. He also creates installations with his brother Louis Debailleul.

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Raphaël Navarro draws on wide-ranging historical, ethnological and anthropological research conducted with Valentine Losseau on different forms of magic practised all over the world. He co-authors shows with Yann Frisch and Etienne Saglio, and collaborates as stage director and advisor on magic with the Cirque du Soleil.

In 2018, he and Valentine Losseau won the SACD award for author of the year for the Circus Arts, for their production of Goethe’s Faust at the Comédie Française.

Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro are associate authors at the Théâtre du Rond-Point (2017-2021).

Cie 14:20 is associate specialising in teaching methods at ENSATT (Lyon) and CNAC (Châlons en Champagne). Cie 14:20 has signed conventions with the DRAC, the City of Rouen and the Normandy regional authority.

VALENTINE LOSSEAUDRAMATIST

Valentine Losseau is a magician, playwright, anthropologist and co-founder of the new magic artistic movement with Clément Debailleul and Raphaël Navarro. She has taught magic and anthropology at France’s National Circus Arts Centre since 2005. As a playwright she has worked on shows by the companies 14:20 (Wade In The Water: 2016), Monstre(s)/Etienne Saglio (Les Limbes: 2014), L’Absente/Yann Frisch (Le Syndrome de Cassandre: 2015), Blizzard Concept (LazareMerveilleux: 2018)... With Prune Nourry she also co-signed the Anima installation at New York’s Invisible Dog Art Center in 2016.

An anthropologist, specialising in India and Mayan cultures, of which she speaks three languages, she intersects uses the theoretical perspectives of her research work to inform her passion for magic and writing for the stage. An associate of the Centre for Mexican and Central American Studies (CNRS, Mexico) since 2009, she is a researcher at the Collège de France Laboratory for Social Anthropology under the direction of Philippe Descola.

INSULA ORCHESTRA

Insula orchestra’s artistic project is built around a repertoire ranging mainly from the Classical to the Romantic eras. Mozart, Schubert or Weber form naturally the core of this repertoire with symphonic programmes as well as programmes with choir and soloists. The orchestra performs on period instruments.

Founded in 2012 by Laurence Equilbey with local government support from the Département des Hauts-de-Seine, Insula orchestra is in residence in a new artistic venue, La Seine Musicale, designed by architects Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines on Ile Seguin, an island in the River Seine just a few miles downstream from Paris. The orchestra is in charge of selecting part of the programme for the 1,100-seater auditorium. It also performs at other major French and international venues and leading festivals. Since its foundation, the orchestra has been invited to play at Philharmonie de Paris, Vienna’s Theater an der Wien, Salzburg Mozart Week, Basel Stadtcasino, Elbphilharmonie, Ludwigsburg Festival and London Barbican Centre.

Insula orchestra has also developed a comprehensive, innovative programme of cultural and educational initiatives across its home base in the Hauts-de-Seine department, notably to foster awareness among potential audiences who have never had the opportunity to approach classical music, as well as participatory classes for young people and schools.

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CLÉMENT DEBAILLEUL : INTERVIEW

IN JUNE 2020 AT LA SEINE MUSICALE, INSULA ORCHESTRA AND LAURENCE EQUILBEY MET CLÉMENT DEBAILLEUL - CIE 14:20 TO TALK ABOUT HIS PRODUCTION OF A MAGICAL CABARET CRAFTED AROUND MOZART’S FINEST ARIAS.

You were a founder member of Cie 14:20, one of the leading exponents of the artistic movement called “new magic” and have just staged the “Magic Mozart” show. Can you tell us more about the new magic? What disciplines does it encompass? Cie 14:20 was the avant-garde, championing the new magic. Along with Raphaël Navarro and Valentine Losseau our aim was to make a stand for magic as an art form in its own right. Our idea was to return to magic in the broadest sense, freeing it from the constraints of traditional repertory and the central figure of the magician. New magic focuses on challenging reality and making this a core concern of our artistic considerations.

Instead of “discipline”, I prefer to see things in terms of artistic language and expression. The Inuit language, for example, has many words to refer to snow. The same is true of art; magic is the best language for bringing to life the creative genius in Mozart’s work and telling it to an audience.

Were Mozart’s operas and new magic an obvious fit? The abstract dimension of the music works naturally with the visual creativity inherent to our stage work. The power of Mozart’s genius is a very strong source of inspiration that makes us want to draw from a wide range of expression, including dance, shadow art and painting, all of which connect with the magic feeling.

“Magic Mozart” is unusual in that it is built around extracts from several Mozart operas. How do you intend to develop a dramatic content around the different pieces? The show is conceived as a waking dream in which Mozart’s works intermingle.We approach the characters as allegorical figures embodying feelings such as love, anger or teenage joy, etc.

Lastly, what experience do you hope your production will bring to audiences? We hope to create a sense of amazement and levity. The show brings a fresh enchantment with an original vision of operatic works which, though very familiar, can still be re-explored.

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VIDEO

Teaser - Magic Mozart, an enchanted cabaret

Creation of the cie 14:20 - Mozart’s Cavatina.

Mozart’s Lucio Silla, Insula orchestra, Laurence Equilbey

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SUPPORTERS

CONTACTS

Samuel Serin, General managers.serin@insulaorchestra.fr +33 (0)6 03 21 13 67

David Bodou, External relations managerd.bodou@insulaorchestra.fr+33 (0)6 87 88 26 32

MOZARTMAGI MOZART

Sandrine Piau, Jodie DevosLoïc Félix Florian Sempey Stanislas de Barbeyrac Laurence Equilbey, accentus, Insula orchestra

Warner Classics – EratoOctobre 2020

MOZARTREQUIEM

Sandrine Piau, Sara Mingardo, Werner Güra, Christopher Purves Laurence Equilbey, accentus, Insula orchestra

naïveSeptember 2014

« And for all Equilbey’s avoidance of theatricality it’s the sense of detail, care and attention she imparts as well as fluency that makes her interpretation memorable ».BBC Music Magazine

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DISCOGRAPHY