Le Carnaval Baroque

Le Carnaval Baroque
music, circus and theatre in the reconstruction of a 17th-century Venice carnival

Le Poème Harmonique
conductor and baroque guitar Vincent Dumestre
direction and choreography Cécile Roussat
set design François Destors
costume design Chantal Rousseau
lighting design Christophe Naillet

Specialising in Baroque music and the reconstruction of historical settings through sound, street theatre and dance, Vincent Dumestre, director Cécile Roussat and their ensemble Le Poème Harmonique will recreate a carnival day in 17^th-century Venice. The stage will be filled with musicians, jugglers, mimes, dancers and acrobats who will re-enact scenes from everyday life, princely banquets in palaces, carnival dances and jokes, a man-hunt along the canals, and a small theatre where a parody of Monteverdi’s madrigal The Lament of the Nymph will be performed. All this is accompanied by chaconnes, morescas and tarantellas, as well as famous and lesser-known vocal pieces from the learned and popular Italian repertoire of the 17^th century, to the expert accompaniment of Dumestre’s Baroque guitar.