Purcell’s The Fairy Queen

An ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specialized 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 programs for young musicians, among which Le Jardin des Voix academy, the Arts Flo Juniors program, and a 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 labeled “Centre Culturel de Rencontre” in 2017 for its project of an international artistic campus. In 2018, it saw the creation of the Foundation Les Arts Florissants by 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 have been artists in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015. 
 
To learn more about Les Arts Florissants, please visit their website. 

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, N.Y. and educated at Harvard and Yale, 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, Christie’s 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, Christie is the uncontested master of tragédie-lyrique as well as opéra-ballet, and he 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 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, 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 — Bach’s B Minor Mass; Monteverdi’sL’incoronazione di Poppea (CD/DVD); “N’espérez plus, mes yeux”; “Générations: Senaillé – Leclair”; Platée — were issued by harmonia mundi in the “Les Arts Florissants” collection.  

Highlights of the 2023-24 season will include: on the opera stage, new productions of Charpentier’s Médée at the Opéra national de Paris (staged by David McVicar), Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (staged by choreographer Mourad Merzouki with the new laureates of Le Jardin des Voix) and Handel’s Ariodante; on the concert stage, J.S. Bach’s Saint John’s Passion, A. Campra’s Requiem, Haydn’s Seven Last words of Christ and Italian Arias with countertenors Hugh Cutting and Carlo Vistoli. 

A major figure on the hip-hop scene since the 1990s, choreographer Mourad Merzouki adds circus, martial arts, fine arts, video, and live music to his exploration of hip-hop dance. Beginning at the age of seven, Merzouki trained in the circus school of Saint-Priest, in Lyon’s eastern suburbs, while also practicing martial arts. He created his first dance company, Accrorap, in 1989, and continued to develop his unique brand of hip-hop movement while simultaneously exploring other dance genres.  

In 1996, Merzouki established his own company Käfig. Since then, his company has performed 4,000 times across 65 countries. In 2009, Merzouki created the Centre chorégraphique Pôle Pik in Bron to support choreographic development. That year he also became director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Créteil et du Val-de- Marne, where he creates and performs new works, provides support for independent groups and emerging companies, and develops training and awareness of hip-hop dance. In 2016, Merzouki was appointed artistic advisor for Pôle en Scènes in Bron, where he brought together Pôle Pik and Espace Albert Camus in support of the performing arts. In January 2023, after 13 years at the head of the CCN de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne, he will reinstall the Käfig company in East Lyon, Bron, and Saint-Priest, reconnecting with the territory where he grew up. 

Merzouki is a member of the French Ministry of Culture and he appears in the famous Who’s Who book.