Apocalyptic spheres

Photo Ensemble Le Petit Rien
Intimate concert with Sébastien Provencher, dancer, and Ensemble Le Petit Rien

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.

Tickets

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

Notes de programme

Apocalyptic spheres

Cérès et les quatre éléments, tableau de Jan Brueghel
Artist(s) and Ensemble(s)

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.

Program
Earth
Maurice-Gaston Du Berger (1987-)

Lever de terre

Jean-Féry Rebel

Trio Sonata no. 1 in A major, “La Flore” 

     Lentement - Gay - Air - Gay - Lentement - Gay - Air

Maurice-Gaston Du Berger

Terre

Air
William Williams (actif 1677-1704)

Sonata no. 6 in F major, “In Imitation of Birds”

     Adagio - Allegro - Grave - Allegro

Maurice-Gaston Du Berger

Vent

Fire
Giovanni Battista Mazzaferrata (?-1691)

Trio Sonata op. 5, no. 4 

     [Andante] - Allegro - Adagio - Presto

Maurice-Gaston Du Berger

Feu

Water
Antonio Caldara (1670-1736)

Trio Sonata in E minor op. 1, no. 5 

     Grave - Vivace - Adagio - Vivace

Marin Marais

Chaconne, from Suite à 3 in C major

Maurice-Gaston Du Berger

Coucher de terre

Program Notes

“One must contain chaos to give birth to a dancing star,” 

Le philosophe nu – Alexandre Jollien

 

Biographies

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.