Programme

Excerpts from:

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643 - 1704)

Médée

• Ouverture

• Act I, sc. 1 & 2 (Médée, Nérine, Jason) [RL, JM, BR]

• Act III, sc. 3 “Quel prix de mon amour” (Médée) [RL]

Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632 - 1687)

Atys

• Act III, sc. 4 - Musique du sommeil d’Atys

• « Dormons tous » (Acte III, sc. 4) [BR, MW, nn]

• Act IV, sc. 4 - “Qu’il sait peu son malheur” & “Je jure, je promets” 

             (Atys, Sangaride) [AVL, BR]

• Act V, sc. 2 - “Venez vous livrer au supplice” 

(Cybèle, Sangaride, Atys, Celaenus) [RL, AVL, BR, MW]

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683 - 1764)

Pygmalion

• Ballet

• no. 10 Ariette “Règne, Amour” [BR]

Fête d’Hébé

Act II, sc. 1 ; n° 34, Air « Pour rendre mon hymen » (Iphise) [JM]

Act II, sc. 4 ; n° 37, Air lent « Ô mort » (Iphise) [JM]

Act II, sc. 4 ; n° 38a, Air « Réponds Oracle de nos Dieux » (Iphise) [JM]

Act II, sc. 4 ; n° 38b, Petit Chœur « Réponds Oracle de nos Dieux » [JM, AVL, BR, nn]Act II, sc. 4 ; n° 39A, Air tendre

Act I, sc. 5 ; n° 27b, Air « Revenez tendres amants » (Le Fleuve) [MW]

Act I, sc. 5 ; n° 27c, Chœur « Revenez tendres amants »

Act I, sc. 5 ; n° 27d, Duo « Je vous revois » [AVL, BR]

Platée

• Act II, sc. 5 “Formons les plus brillants concerts » (La Folie) [AVL]

Hippolyte et Aricie

• Act III, sc. 7 “Qu’ai-je appris ?” (Thésée) [MW]

Les Indes galantes

• Act III, sc. 5 “Je ne vous peindrai point les transports de mon cœur” (Adario, Zima) [AVL, MW]

• Act III, sc. 6 Rondeau & “Forêts paisibles” (Zima, Adario) [AVL, MW]

Performers

Les Arts Florissants

Direction: William Christie 

Ana Vieira Leite: soprano  [AVL]

Rebecca Leggett: mezzo-soprano [RL]

Juliette Mey: mezzo-soprano [JM]

Bastien Rimondi: tenor  [BR]

Matthieu Walendzik: baritone [MW]

Richard Pittsinger: tenor [SA]

Orchestre des Arts Florissants

Emmanuel RESCHE-CASERTA:  dessus de violon, leader and musical assistant

Augusta McKAY LODGE:  dessus de violon

Michèle SAUVÉ:  haute-contre de violon

Lucia PERALTA:  taille de violon

Simon HEYERICK:  quinte de violon

Mathilde VIALLE:  viola da gamba

David SIMPSON:  basse de violon

Hugo ABRAHAM:  violone

Serge SAITTA:  flute

Yanina YACUBSOHN:  oboe

Nathalie PETIBON:  oboe

Evolène KIENER:  bassoon

Thomas DUNFORD: theorbo

Programme Notes

A pioneer of Baroque rediscovery, a passionate defender of the arts and culture of the Grand Siècle, a conductor praised the world over: William Christie has left his flamboyant mark on the international musical landscape. What better way to celebrate his 80th birthday than with music?  This is the aim of this special concert, featuring some of William Christie's most cherished works, drawn from his beloved repertoire: French music of the 17th and 18th centuries. A delightful anthology, for which several members of his musical family have gathered around him, instrumentalists and solo singers with whom he has built up a loyal companionship over the years … with a few surprises thrown in for good measure!

Biographies

William Christie

Co-musical Director, Founder Les Arts Florissants

William Christie, harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist, and teacher, is the inspiration behind one of the most exciting musical adventures of the last 40 years. A pioneer in the rediscovery of Baroque music, he has introduced the repertoire of 17th- and 18th-century France to a very wide audience across the globe. Born in Buffalo, and educated at Harvard and Yale, William Christie has lived in France since 1971. The turning point in his career came in 1979, when he founded Les Arts Florissants.  

As director of this vocal and instrumental ensemble, William Christie soon made his mark as both a musician and man of the theatre, in the concert hall and the opera house. Major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Lully’s Atys at the Opéra Comique in Paris. 

From Charpentier to Rameau, through Couperin, Mondonville, William Christie is the uncontested master of tragédie-lyrique as well as opéra-ballet, and is just as comfortable with the French motet as with music of the court. But his affection for French music does not preclude him from exploring other European repertoires such as Monteverdi, Rossi, Scarlatti, Landi, Purcell, Handel, Mozart, Haydn or Bach. 

Notable among his most recent operatic work are Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival, Rameau’s Platée at Theater an der Wien, Mondonville’s Titon et l'Aurore at the Opéra Comique, Handel’s Partenope on international tour and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas at the Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Opéra Royal de Versailles and Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona.

As a guest conductor, William Christie often appears alongside the Berliner Philharmoniker or the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at opera festivals such as Glyndebourne or opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Zurich Opernhaus, or the Opéra National de Lyon.  

His extensive discography includes more than 100 recordings. The most recent ones – “Générations: Senaillé - Leclair”; Platée; L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato – were issued by harmonia mundi in the “Les Arts Florissants” collection. 

Wishing to develop further his work as a teacher, in 2002 William Christie created Le Jardin des Voix, Les Arts Florissant’s biennial baroque Academy for young singers, now established at Thiré in Vendée. Since 2007 he has been artist in residence at the Juilliard School in New York, where he gives master classes twice a year. In 2021, he launched with Les Arts Florissants the first “Arts Flo Masterclasses” for young professional musicians at the Quartier des Artistes in Thiré (Vendée, Pays de la Loire – France). 

In 2012, he created the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie in his own gardens, located in the French village of Thiré in the Vendée, where he welcomes every summer young musicians from the Juilliard School and singers of the Jardin des Voix along with the musicians and singers of Les Arts Florissants. 

William Christie has bequeathed his real-estate assets to the Foundation Les Arts Florissants – William Christie created in 2018.  In November 2008, William Christie was elected to France’s Académie des Beaux-Arts, and gave his official inaugural speech under the dome of the Institut de France in January 2010. In 2022 he was the recipient of the PdSK (German Record Critics’ Award) Honorary Award.

Highlights of the 2023-24 season include: on the opera stage, new productions of Charpentier’s Médée at the Opéra national de Paris, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Handel’s Ariodante; on the concert stage, J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion, Campra’s Requiem, Haydn’s Seven Last words of Christ and Italian Arias with countertenors Hugh Cutting and Carlo Vistoli. The 2024-2025 season will see the celebration of William Christie's 80th birthday, with an anniversary tour and a series of exceptional events.

Les Arts Florissants

An ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specialised in the performance on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants has played a pioneering role in the revival of Baroque Repertoire. Founded in 1979 by William Christie, it gives around one hundred concerts and opera performances each season, in France and internationally, and has produced an extensive discography–especially in its own collection with the “harmonia mundi” record label. Since 2020, British tenor and conductor Paul Agnew has become its co-musical director. The Ensemble has been in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015. It has launched several education programmes for young musicians, among which Le Jardin des Voix academy, the Arts Flo Juniors programme and collaboration with The Juilliard School. In the village of Thiré (Vendée, Pays de la Loire), Les Arts Florissants created in 2012 the Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie, followed by a Spring Festival in 2017 and was labelled “Centre Culturel de Rencontre” in 2017 for its project of an international artistic campus. 2018 saw the creation of the Fondation Les Arts Florissants–William Christie. 

Les Arts Florissants receives financial support from the State, the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs (DRAC), the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. The Selz Foundation is their Principal Sponsor. Aline Foriel-Destezet and the American Friends of Les Arts Florissants are Major Sponsors. Les Arts Florissants has been ensemble in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015 and is recognised as a “Heritage Site for Culture”

Ana Vieira Leite, soprano

Ana Vieira Leite began her musical journey at the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory in Braga, Portugal, at the age of six. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in singing, a Postgraduate Degree in opera studies, and a Master’s Degree in artistic interpretation from ESMAE in Porto. She later pursued further training at the Haute École de Musique in Geneva. Ana has won several prestigious awards, including the 1st Prize at the “Concurso Internacional Cidade de Almada” in 2018 and the “Prémio Helena Sá e Costa” in 2017. In 2020, she was awarded the 1st Prize at the “Concours International de Chant Baroque de Froville” in France, and in 2021, she received the 2nd Prize at the “Prémio Jovens Músicos” and the 1st Prize at the “Concurso da Fundação Rotária Portuguesa.” Throughout her career, Ana has benefited from the support of the Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal), Fondation Mosetti (Switzerland), and the GDA Foundation (Portugal), which have been instrumental in advancing her artistic development.

Rebecca Leggett, mezzo-soprano

Rebecca Leggett is a 2020 graduate of the Royal College of Music, where she was an Ian Evans Lombe Scholar. She previously completed her undergraduate studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, graduating with First Class Honours and winning the TCM Trust Silver Medal for Voice and the Alan J Kirby Conducting Prize. Rebecca is passionate about early music and is one of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's ‘Rising Stars’ for 2023-2025. In spring, she will perform Bach's Easter Oratorio with them. She made her debut with Les Arts Florissants in 2023, singing in their ‘Divine Hymns’ programme. Her notable performances include Bach's St. John Passion at Het Concertgebouw, her Wigmore Hall debut with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen, Handel’s Messiah with Edward Higginbottom, and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with The Sixteen. Her recent stage highlights include playing Cupid in John Blow’s Venus and Adonis with Blackheath Halls Opera and performing Monteverdi’s Lamento della Ninfa during a UK tour with Rambert ballet company. In 2023, she was a finalist at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and previously won the Coro Nuovo Young Musician of the Year (2018). Rebecca has also excelled in song recitals, winning the 2022 LSD British Art-Song Competition, and has performed at the Lewes Song Festival, London Song Festival, and Oxford Lieder Festival. She has given recitals with esteemed artists like countertenor Hugh Cutting and bass Brindley Sherratt.

Juliette Mey, mezzo-soprano

Juliette Mey, winner of the Queen Elisabeth and Voix Nouvelles 2023 competitions, is a rising opera star. She is part of the 2022 Génération Opéra class and a laureate of the Aix Festival Academy (2022) and the Raymond Duffaut Young Talents Competition (2021). Her vocal training began at the Maîtrise of the Toulouse Conservatory, followed by advanced studies under Léa Pasquel at the CRR de Montpellier. In 2018, she joined the Pôle Baroque de Toulouse for a three-year course.

Juliette honed her craft further with renowned mezzo-soprano Jeanne Piland in 2021. Currently, she studies at the CNSMDP in Paris, where she was unanimously accepted in 2021. Her early career has included the title role of La Cenerentola at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Opéra de Rouen. She made her Paris Opera debut performing Liszt during the ballet Mayerling at the Palais Garnier.

Juliette has also collaborated with prominent ensembles such as Christophe Rousset's Talens Lyriques, the Ricercar Consort, and the Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie. Her talents have made her one of the most promising young voices in the operatic world.

Bastien Rimondi, tenor

Bastien Rimondi began his musical journey with piano studies at the Narbonne Conservatory and vocal training in the Maîtrise programme. At 15, he refined his vocal skills with Michel Wolkowitsky at the Abbaye de Sylvanès' Atelier Lyrique. He later studied at the CRR of Toulouse with Jacques Schwarz, before joining the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) in 2017, under Frédéric Gindraux. Bastien earned his Master’s with high honours in 2021 and was part of the Tchaikovsky class of the Jaroussky Academy for the 2021-2022 season.

His repertoire spans from Baroque to Contemporary, with notable roles such as Ferrando in Così fan tutte (Mozart), Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), and Monsieur de Crotignac in Le Peintre Parisien (Cimarosa). Recent performances include Charles de Noailles in Ressusciter la Rose by Raphaël Lucas, and the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion with Les Arts Florissants in Asia.

This season, Bastien will perform recitals at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville and appear at the Opéra Garnier in Médée by Charpentier. Since 2015, he has collaborated with pianist Timothée Hudrisier as the duo Florestan, winning several awards, including the 1st Prize at the International French Melodie Competition in Toulouse.

Matthieu Walendzik, Baritone

Franco-Polish baritone Matthieu Walendzik, a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris and the Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris, has a repertoire ranging from mediaeval music to contemporary works. Winner of the 10th edition of Le Jardin des Voix, he performed the role of Ormonte in Handel’s Partenope under the direction of William Christie and Paul Agnew. He is also an artist-in-residence at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth (Belgium), where he trains with José van Dam and Sophie Koch. In 2022, he won second prize at the 11th International Baroque Singing Competition in Froville and in 2023, he received the Eurydice Prize at the Maîtres du Chant competition.

Walendzik has performed on prestigious stages such as the Philharmonie de Paris, Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, and the Opéra Royal de Versailles. His operatic roles include Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Dancaïre (Carmen), Marcello (La Bohème), Falke (Die Fledermaus), and Russell (Lady in the Dark). As a concert soloist, he has performed Die Schöpfung (Haydn), Johannes-Passion and Matthäus-Passion (Bach), Messiah (Handel), and Messe de Notre-Dame (Machaut) under conductors like Stephan MacLeod, William Christie, and Sigiswald Kuijken.

Richard Pittsinger, Tenor

Praised by Anthony Tomassini of The New York Times for his “winning singing and youthful bearing,” American tenor Richard Pittsinger is emerging as a prominent interpreter of early and modern repertoire. Known for his versatility across four centuries of music, Pittsinger’s recent operatic roles include Céphale in Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre’s Céphale et Procris with Boston Early Music Festival, Aminta in Handel’s Atalanta with Juilliard Opera, and Orfeo in Luigi Rossi’s L’Orfeo. Additional credits feature Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “The Rocket” in Laura Karpman’s Wilde Tales at Glimmerglass Festival, and Dr. Caius in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Aspen Music Festival.

On the concert stage, Pittsinger has performed with The Cecilia Chorus of New York, the Co-Cathedral at St. Joseph’s, and Juilliard415. He has collaborated with esteemed artists, including William Christie, Francesca Zambello, and Richard Egarr. His expressive voice and commanding high register have garnered critical praise, with Opera News applauding his “impressive high extension” and Voce di Meche describing “stunning vocal moments.”

Pittsinger’s musical journey began as a treble at New York’s St. Thomas Choir School, performing with the Dresden Symphony under Vladimir Jurowski and debuting at age 11 at the Castleton Festival. A Juilliard graduate, he earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, studying with Elizabeth Bishop and performing in masterclasses with Renée Fleming and Nicholas McGegan. He furthered his studies at Tanglewood, Amherst Early Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival.