| The
Musiciens du Louvre • Grenoble Workshop was created in
January 2005 at the initiative of Marc Minkowski, who appointed
Mirella Giardelli as it's Artistic Director. Under her guidance
the Workshop now produces projets which are at one and the same
time complementary to the the main orchestral programming of
Les Musiciens du Louvre • Grenoble as well as independent
and experimental. The originality of the Workshop resides in
it's desire to confront other artistic disciplines (most notably
in the field of literature, theatre, puppet theatre, non-classical
music as well as amateur music) and in it's ability to present
it's projects to a large and diverse public. The performance
space known as the Salle Olivier Messiaen is the home of the
Workshop, situated at the heart of the former convent des
Minimes in the old town of Grenoble. Since the creation of
the Workshop, the Salle Olivier Messiaen has become a sort
of « laboratory » where the numerous creations
imagined by Mirella Giardelli and the artistes with whom she
chooses to collaborate (orchestral musicians from Les Musiciens
du Louvre • Grenoble, choirs, amateur musicians, school
children and students, young professionals as well as artistes
of international renown such as Jean-Claude Gallotta, Nancy
Huston, or Guillaumette Laurens) spring to life....After the
creative process, the Workshop productions are then taken
on local and regional tours thanks to an important network
of public institutional partnerships (the city of Grenoble,
the Regional government of Rhône Alpes, and the Department
of Isère), cultural institutional partnerships (the
MC2 cultural centre in Grenoble) and parterships with educational
institutions (the Regional Conservatoire of Grenoble, the
Académie).
The Workshops projects are at the heart of one of today's
major preoccupations: the necessity to invent new forms of
presenting music in concert (and also to enrich the experience
of music by the exploration of the dramatic and literary aspects
of the repertoire). But it is equally at the heart of a rigorous
approach to interpretation of the repertoire most notably
in the area of musical style, a musical value shared by both
Marc Minkowski and Mirella Giardelli.
Workshop’s Projects
From it’s inception, the Workshop’s artistic
programme has struck a chord by both it’s diversity
and it’s ambition : an opera for puppets entitled Philémon
and Baucis by Haydn, co-produced with the Lyon Opera
and the Théâtre du Fust, a « Stendhal Series
» in four episodes based on La Chartreuse de Parme
with Célia Houdart and a production inspired by The
Fairy Queen by Purcell, with pupils, actors, singers
and instrumentalists from the Grenoble Conservatoire in association
with the National Drama Centre of the Alpes, « 1707
» a show based on Il Primo Omicidio by Alessandro
Scarlatti, directed by Bruno Meyssat, Tendres Ténèbres
a concert based around an original script by Nancy Huston,
read by the author, accompanied by jazz musicians including
Michel Godart , and offset by Les Lamentations de
Marc-Antoine Charpentier ; Le jeu de la Grenouille,
a playful interlude based on Rameau’s opera Platée
for harpsichord and singers, mounted by pupils from the
Arc Alpin Conservatoire.
In 2006-2007, Mirella Giardelli,
pursuing her work with amateur choirs, presented a programme
of eastern european music with the Ambronay Festival Choir
and another programme based around the music of Francis Poulenc
and the writings of Paul Eluard with the Piccolo Coro. She
also continued her exploration of regional authors with a
radio concert based on the work of Jean Giono and she also
worked on the music of Bach with the regional conservatoires.
A revival of Le Jeu de la Grenouille took place in the winter
of 2007
In the current season, Mozart and Haydn
are honoured :
L’Ecole des amants is a project which adopts
an experimental approach to love, using a transcription of
extracts from Così fan tutte for chamber music
ensemble and video. This project will be on tour in the Rhône
Alpes region (notably in the Isère Department in a
partnership with the MC2) and in each venue where it is presented
the public will be associated the performance. A second project
has been created from L’Ecole des amants for
later on in the season, a programme of vocal chamber music
by Mozart and Haydn with a vocal quartet and the actor from
L’Ecole des Amants. Haydn will also be pesent
this season with the revival of Philémon et Baucis
in collaboration with the Lyon Opera (puppets by Emilie Valatin-
Théâtre du Fust) and a first time collaboration
with the Orchestre du Campus in a programme of music by Haydn
and Stravinsky. Mozart will be a regular feature of all the
pedagogical projects throughout the season. The Workshop will
also remain faithful to the music of Bach and to the principle
of mixing artistic disciplines with the project Bach Danse
Experience in collaboration with the choreographer, Jean-Claude
Gallotta and the National Choreographic Centre of Grenoble.
Other important events of the season are the following :
Trans-baroque express, a « brunch concert
» as part of the 38èmes Rugissants Festival with
the singer Roula Safar, Une soirée à la
Villa Médicis au temps de Hébert with the
soprano Françoise Masset and the actor Christoph Delachaux,
and revivals of Jeu de la Grenouille (Platée
in a playful nomadic version).
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