Concert information
Info
“Nothing that could touch the heart,” grumbled a critic after the premiere of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera Hippolyte et Aricie. Rameau’s impassioned, harmonically bold music divided audiences accustomed to the more elegant, reserved style of Jean-Baptiste Lully. Rameau or Lully? In the 18th century, this question sparked a full-blown cultural battle. Today, both composers are recognised as the leading figures of the French Baroque. Emmanuelle Haïm, a widely-acclaimed baroque specialist, explores this fascinating contrast with ballet music and operatic excerpts; which composer will you prefer?
Artists
Berliner Philharmoniker
Emmanuelle Haïm conductor
Lauranne Oliva soprano
Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor
Programme
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, Suite arranged by Emmanuelle Haïm
Lauranne Oliva soprano, Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Hippolyte et Aricie, suite arranged by Emmanuelle Haïm
Lauranne Oliva soprano, Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor
Interval
Jean-Philippe Rameau
»Tristes apprêts, pâles flambeaux«. Arie der Télaire aus dem ersten Akt der Oper Castor et Pollux
Pierre-Joseph Bernard, Lauranne Oliva soprano
Jean-Philippe Rameau
»Séjour de l’éternelle paix« (Akt IV, Szene 1, Air des Castor)
Pierre-Joseph Bernard, Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Dardanus, Suite arranged by Emmanuelle Haïm
Lauranne Oliva soprano, Reinoud Van Mechelen tenor
Additional information
Duration ca. 2 hours and 15 minutes (incl. 20 minutes interval)
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
19:15
Series A: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
19:15
Series C: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
Main Auditorium
27 to 86 €
Introduction
18:15
Series I: Concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker
“It’s never enough, it can never be too much”
Emmanuelle Haïm in portrait
The conductor and harpsichordist Emmanuelle Haïm is one of the leading figures in the world of early music. A portrait of a baroque icon.
Lully versus Rameau
The great debate of the French Baroque
Jean-Philippe Rameau staged his first opera in 1733 and immediately unleashed a culture war. Was the future of opera to remain in the hands of Jean-Baptiste Lully, who had dominated the French musical scene for more than sixty years? Or was a new day dawning with Rameau’s bold harmonies and the greater refinement of his orchestral writing?
Biographies
Emmanuelle Haïm
“I am obsessed with music – and rather stubborn,” says Emmanuelle Haïm. If I really want something, I will eventually achieve it.” With this determination, she pursued her dream of becoming a conductor, after first studying piano, organ, and harpsichord. It was during her time as assistant to William Christie that she began to focus on leadership. She went on to assist Sir Simon Rattle, whom she had met at the Salzburg Festival in 1999. “He is such an extraordinary conductor,” she says. “He draws so much out of people, with his immensely charismatic manner. His authority had nothing brutal about it. After that, I knew: that’s exactly how I want to do it.” A year later, Emmanuelle Haïm founded Le Concert d’Astrée, which soon established itself as one of the world’s leading Baroque ensembles.
Today, she is regarded as one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, appearing with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic. She has conducted at the Zurich Opera House, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and the Glyndebourne Festival, working with artists such as Philippe Jaroussky, Rolando Villazón, Natalie Dessay, Topi Lehtipuu, and Joyce DiDonato. Since 2011, Emmanuelle Haïm has been a regular guest with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Lauranne Oliva
Lauranne Oliva's career began with a flying start: when she was just 20 years old, she won three prizes at the renowned Concours des nuits lyriques in Marmande in 2020 – in the categories Opera, Best Newcomer, and French Song. The French-Catalan soprano was then a student of Christian Papis at the Conservatoire of Perpignan in southern France, where she received an Excellence Award before joining the Opera Studio of the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg in September 2021. From 2021 to 2023, she was a member of Strasbourg’s opera studio, where she shone as Drusilla in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea under the direction of Raphaël Pichon and as Ellen in Delibes’ Lakmé.
Many further prizes and nominations followed, including at the Paris Opera Competition and the Victoires de la Musique Classique. She made her debut as Pamina at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and appeared at the Theater an der Wien under Christophe Rousset as Lipi in Salieri’s Kublai Khan. She has also performed in Handel’s Messiah and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater under Hervé Niquet and Vincent Dumestre, and has given concerts at the Opéra Royal de Versailles as well as in Rennes and Avignon. These concerts mark her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Reinoud Van Mechelen
Reinoud Van Mechelen's vocal range makes him an ideal fit for the haute-contre repertoire. This voice type, specific to French Baroque operatic music, has a very high range and should never be confused with that of the countertenor. Haute-contre singers can produce high notes using chest voice or a mix of chest and head voice. “On the other hand, I can also sing the low notes of the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion,” says Van Mechelen. “I don’t sound like a baritone, of course, but I have a wide range.” Van Mechelen studied voice at the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels with Dina Grossberger and was awarded the prestigious Caecilia Prize as Young Musician of the Year in 2017.
While still a student, he joined William Christie’s talent program Le Jardin des Voix: “That meant more to me than winning the lottery,” he remembers. He then became a soloist with Christie’s ensemble Les Arts Florissants, dedicated to preserving and rediscovering 17th- and 18th-century French, English, and Italian repertoire. Van Mechelen regularly appears with leading Baroque ensembles such as Concert d’Astrée, Les Talens Lyriques, Pygmalion, B’Rock, and Hespèrion XXI.
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