Music is the food for life, they say. It knows no boundaries. It has the magical ability to heal across borders and beyond languages. It can express what sometimes words fail to do.
Following the launch of Bonjour India - incubating dreams, ideas and projects which aim to move the partnership between India and France into the future, Alliance Française of Madras hosted a Baroque Music Concert - VENEZIA, by Le Poéme Harmonique.
Le Poéme Harmonique, a leading French baroque ensemble, came on stage to celebrate the golden age of Baroque, an era when music dissolved borders across Europe. Under artistic director Vincent Dumestre, Venezia recreated the highly entertaining performances of the 17th and 18th centuries, when art music and popular forms mingled, and feelings and freedom of language had not yet been held in check by rules and codes.
Venezia begins with Monteverdi’s Madrigals, as the famous Lamento della Ninfa. It goes on to typical light and funny pieces written by Francesco Manelli, one of the most brilliant composers of the Venetian Baroque. Through this programme, Bonjour India launches collaborations in baroque and opera music between India and France, while encouraging professional training in the classical music forms.
“It was a great pleasure to play in Chennai and we were amazed by the response from the audience. They were very enthusiastic and seemed to be great connoisseurs of Western classical,” added an overwhelmed Vincent.
The third edition of Bonjour India 2017-18 is a four-month-long mega voyage across India that will celebrate Indo-French partnership as well as shape the next decade of exchanges between the two countries. From November 2017 to February 2018, Bonjour India covers 100 projects in 33 cities across 20 states and union territories. Bonjour India provides a platform for enduring partnerships across the themes of ‘Smart Citizen’, ‘High Mobility’, ‘Go Green’.
