Composers through the ages have been fascinated by the elements—earth, water, air, fire—in the chaos before Creation. An inspiration of Jean-Féry Rebel’s Les Éléments with interludes by composer Maurice-G. Du Berger and choreography by contemporary dancer Sébastien Provencher.
Works by Rebel, Marais and Du Berger.
30 $ - regular, 25 $ - 65 years and older, 15 $ - students
Centre Phi (Espace 1) (metro Square-Victoria-OACI)
315, Saint-Paul Street West
Montreal QC
Canada
Apocalyptic spheres
Ceres and the Four Elements, painting by Jan Brueghel
Le Petit Rien
Mélanie de Bonville and Noémy Gagnon-Lafrenais, violins
Amanda Keesmaat, violoncello
Luc Beauséjour, harpsichord
Sébastien Provencher, choreography and dance
Maurice-Gaston Du Berger, composer
Le Petit Rien presents an original, staged performance inspired by Jean Féry Rebel’s Les Élémens. Like Rebel’s wordless ballet, Apocalyptic spheres is a captivating contemporary imagining of the origin of creation. Structured around Baroque trio sonatas, the program presents Earth, Wind and Fire, as well as two new works by composer Maurice-Gaston Du Berger, Lever de terre (Earthrise) and Coucher de terre (Earthset). The instrumentalists will perform alongside contemporary dancer Sébastien Provencher, who directed the production. Works by Rebel, Williams, Mazzaferrata, Caldara and Marais come together to represent the four fundamental elements of creation.
Lever de terre
Trio Sonata no. 1 in A major, “La Flore”
Lentement - Gay - Air - Gay - Lentement - Gay - Air
Terre
Sonata no. 6 in F major, “In Imitation of Birds”
Adagio - Allegro - Grave - Allegro
Vent
Trio Sonata op. 5, no. 4
[Andante] - Allegro - Adagio - Presto
Feu
Trio Sonata in E minor op. 1, no. 5
Grave - Vivace - Adagio - Vivace
Chaconne, from Suite à 3 in C major
Coucher de terre
“One must contain chaos to give birth to a dancing star,”
Le philosophe nu – Alexandre Jollien
Le Petit Rien is an ensemble rooted in friendship. Its members are specialists in repertoire from the 17th and 18th centuries repertoire, united by a shared passion for chamber music.
Maurice-Gaston Du Berger was admitted to Collège Lionel-Groulx as a classical pianist in 2004, pursuing his early studies with Dominique Morel. He then earned a master’s degree in composition at the Université de Montréal under the supervision of Ana Sokolović. In 2015 and 2017, he was awarded grants by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and in 2016-2017, his concert Les cantates de l’ether was selected for the CAM en tournée program. His musical universe is shaped by his strong interest in words and the close relationships between text and music.