Our dream is to play – by heart – the entire body of Hildegard Von Bingen’s musical work, adapted and reinvented for voice and bandura. To exhibit the live music, as one might exhibit a manuscript or retable, thus in extenso, the duration of the playing of the 69 known pieces of the Celestial Harmonies. To accompany this music with a visual art work which would be immaterial, digital or luminous, the manifestation of the sculptural and visionary dimension of the performance, transforming it into a total event (visual, musical, choreographic).
Hildegard Von Bingen’s work seems both distant and legendary. Indissociable from the mental and perceptual universe of her time (the 12th century in the Rhine region), it evokes a vanished world, at once magical and inaccessible… At the same time, Hildegard is one of the rare women whose name has lived on through the centuries, as part of a history mostly written by men. Today her works on natural medicine have become bestsellers and her music is known by music lovers.
The coherence and force of her musical work, the enigmas that her life and era present to our contemporary world, the aura that surrounds her personality, all inspire us to imagine a piece at the crossroads of performance, exhibition, music and dance.
CREATION TEAM
Conception and performance François Chaignaud et Marie-Pierre Brébant
Based on Hildegard von Bingen’s musical works (1098-1179)
Musical adaptation Marie-Pierre Brébant
Scenography Arthur Hoffner
Lights conception Philippe Gladieux, Anthony Merlaud
Sound design conception and installation Christophe Hauser
Artistic collaboration Sarah Chaumette
Costumes Cédrick Debeuf, Loïs Heckendorn
Tattoos Conception Loïs Heckendorn Print Micka Arasco
Technical manager Anthony Merlaud / François Boulet
Latin prosody Angela Cossu
Administration/production Barbara Coffy-Yarsel, Chloé Schmidt, Jeanne Lefèvre, Clémentine Rougier
Diffusion Sarah de Ganck/ART HAPPENS
COPRODUCTION
Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy – Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Bruxelles, Belgium – Pact Zollverein, Essen, Germany – centre chorégraphique national de Caen en Normandie, direction Alban RICHARD dans le cadre de “l’Accueil-Studio ” / Ministère de la Culture, France – BIT Teatergarasjen Bergen, Norway – Arsenal/Cité musicale, Metz, France – CN D Centre national de la danse, France – MC93 Maison de la Culture Seine-Saint-Denis, Bobigny, France — Les 2 Scènes, Scène nationale de Besançon, France — La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, Switzerland — TANDEM, Scène nationale, France — Festival Musica, Strasbourg, France
WITH HELP FROM
Villa Noailles, Hyères, France – CN D Centre national de la danse (residency), Pantin, France – BoCA (Biennale of Contemporary Art), Porto, Portugal — La Métive lieu international de résidence de création artistique (residency), Moutier d’Ahun, France – FRAC Franche-Comté (residency), France — les Subsistances, Lyon (residency).
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Lucie Jolivet, Lyubomyr Shevchuk, Catherine Schroeder, Léo Henry, Eugénie de Mey, Patricia Allio
