●Duration is 160 mins with 20 mins intermission.
●Performed in English with Chinese and English subtitles.
●Suitable for age 12+.Children under age 12 need to be accompanied by an adult.
●Latecomers must follow staff instructions for entry and re-entry.
●10% off for Weiwuying Lifestyle member
●25% off for Weiwuying Youth member
●Applicable for Weiwuying Unlimited member
For details, please see Weiwuying Members Benefit
George Frideric Handel, Oratorio, Messiah
This eminently festive and deeply moving work has long enjoyed extraordinary popularity around the world, but the version recorded by Les Arts Florissants has become a benchmark—a testament of the utmost attention to the language, sense of theatre, dramatic tension, energy and vigour of both Handel's masterly oeuvre and the dedicated work of William Christie and Les Arts Florissants over the past forty years.
Les Arts Florissants
Founded in 1979 by William Christie, Les Arts Florissants has become one of the most internationally acclaimed Baroque vocal and instrumental ensembles.
Specialized in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants is renowned the world over for having played a pioneering role in the revival of 17th and 18th century Baroque repertoire. Under the baton of William Christie and Paul Agnew, the Ensemble gives around 100 performances and opera performances each year in France and all over the world, with many acclaimed concert or semi-staged performances of operas and oratorios, secular and sacred chamber-music programs as well as large-scale works.
Les Arts Florissants has launched several education programs for young musicians: Le Jardin des Voix, its Academy for young singers created in 2002, and since 2007, the Arts Flo Juniors program for conservatory instrumentalist students and a partnership with The Juilliard School. It also organizes numerous outreach and educational events aimed at building new audiences.
In order to allow everyone to discover its rich repertoire, it has produced an impressive discography of nearly 100 recordings (CD and DVD), especially with the Les Arts Florissants collection in collaboration with harmonia mundi.
In residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015, Les Arts Florissants develops a strong attachment to the Vendée as well, a region of France where William Christie has made his home. It is indeed in the village of Thiré, where he lives, that the festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie was launched in 2012 in partnership with the Conseil départemental de la Vendée. This place is now set to become the beating heart of Les Arts Florissant's activities, with several key projects. 2017 is a turning point in this respect, with the settlement of the Jardin des Voix in Thiré, the creation of a Spring Festival directed by Paul Agnew, and the obtention of the French national label « Centre Culturel de Rencontre » for Les Arts Florissants projects in the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. In 2018 has been created the Fondation Les Arts Florissants – William Christie. William Christie gifted his entire Thiré estate to the Foundation.
Les Arts Florissants receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. The Ensemble has been in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015. The Selz Foundation, American Friends of Les Arts Florissants and Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank are Principal Sponsors.
William Christie
Harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, William Christie is a pioneer in the rediscovery and introduction of French Baroque music to a wide audience. Born in Buffalo, and educated at Harvard and Yale, the turning point in his career came in 1979 when he founded Les Arts Florissants. As director of this vocal and instrumental ensemble, major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Lully's Atys at the Opéra Comique in Paris, followed by many other successes in the French and European Baroque repertoire.
Notable among his recent operatic work are: Campra's Les Fêtes vénitiennes in 2015 at the Paris Opéra Comique and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Theodora in 2016 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; in 2018, Handel’s Jephtha at the Opéra national de Paris, Ariodante at the Wiener Staatsoper, L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival, and John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera on European tour.
As a guest conductor William Christie often appears at opera festivals including Glyndebourne (Giulio Cesare in 2018) and opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera or the Zurich Opernhaus.
His extensive discography includes more than 100 recordings. The most recent ones, “Un jardin à l'italienne”, “Bien que l'amour” and Bach’s B Minor Mass were released by harmonia mundi in the collection « Les Arts Florissants ».
Wishing to develop further his work as a teacher, in 2002 William Christie created with Les Arts Florissants a biennial Academy for young singers, Le Jardin des Voix. Since 2007 he has been artist in residence at the Juilliard School in New York.
In 2012, he launched the festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie in his own gardens, located in the French village of Thiré in the Vendée. William Christie has bequeathed his real-estate assets to the Foundation Les Arts Florissants–William Christie created in 2017.
Creative and Production Team
Musical direction｜William Christie
Les Arts Florissants
Soloists｜
Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano *
Katherine Watson, soprano *
Tim Mead, countertenor
James Way, tenor *
Padraic Rowan, bass *
* Former laureates of Le Jardin des Voix, Les Arts Florissants' academy for young singers
Choir and orchestra of Les Arts Florissants
Choir
Sopranos｜ Maud Gnidzaz, Virginie Thomas, Juliette Perret, Sheena Wolstencroft, Cécile Granger, Julia Wischniewski, Leila Zlassi, Solange Añorga
Mezzo-sopranos｜Alice Gregorio, Alice Habellion
Countertenors｜Bruno Le Levreur, Brian Cummings, Christophe Cbaska
Tenors｜Michael-Loughlin Smith, Edouard Haezebrouck, David Ghilardi, David Lefort, Matthieu Peyregne
Basse｜ Laurent Collobert, Anicet Castel, Christophe Gautier, Marduk Serrano Lopez, Yannis François
Orchestra
Violin｜Hiro Kurosaki, Emmanuel Resche, Catherine Girard, Christophe Robert, Myriam Gevers, Michèle Sauvé, Bernadette Charbonnier, Patrick Oliva, Sophie Gevers-Demoures, Sophie de Bardonnèche, TBC, TBC
Viola｜Galina Zinchenko, Simon Heyerick, Jean-Luc Thonnerieux, Kayo Saito
Cello｜ Elena Andreyev, Cyril Poulet, Cécile Verolles
Doublebass｜Joseph Carver
Oboe｜Pier Luigi Fabretti, Machiko Ueno
Bassoon｜Niels Coppalle, TBC
Horn｜Nicolas Chedmail, Philippe Bord
Trumpet｜Rupprecht Drees, Gilles Rapin
Timbal｜Laurent Sauron
Basso Continuo
Cello｜David Simpson
Doublebass｜Jonathan Cable
Organ｜Florian Carré
Sponsor
George Frideric Handel, Oratorio, Messiah
This eminently festive and deeply moving work has long enjoyed extraordinary popularity around the world, but the version recorded by Les Arts Florissants has become a benchmark—a testament of the utmost attention to the language, sense of theatre, dramatic tension, energy and vigour of both Handel's masterly oeuvre and the dedicated work of William Christie and Les Arts Florissants over the past forty years.
Les Arts Florissants
Founded in 1979 by William Christie, Les Arts Florissants has become one of the most internationally acclaimed Baroque vocal and instrumental ensembles.
Specialized in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants is renowned the world over for having played a pioneering role in the revival of 17th and 18th century Baroque repertoire. Under the baton of William Christie and Paul Agnew, the Ensemble gives around 100 performances and opera performances each year in France and all over the world, with many acclaimed concert or semi-staged performances of operas and oratorios, secular and sacred chamber-music programs as well as large-scale works.
Les Arts Florissants has launched several education programs for young musicians: Le Jardin des Voix, its Academy for young singers created in 2002, and since 2007, the Arts Flo Juniors program for conservatory instrumentalist students and a partnership with The Juilliard School. It also organizes numerous outreach and educational events aimed at building new audiences.
In order to allow everyone to discover its rich repertoire, it has produced an impressive discography of nearly 100 recordings (CD and DVD), especially with the Les Arts Florissants collection in collaboration with harmonia mundi.
In residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015, Les Arts Florissants develops a strong attachment to the Vendée as well, a region of France where William Christie has made his home. It is indeed in the village of Thiré, where he lives, that the festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie was launched in 2012 in partnership with the Conseil départemental de la Vendée. This place is now set to become the beating heart of Les Arts Florissant's activities, with several key projects. 2017 is a turning point in this respect, with the settlement of the Jardin des Voix in Thiré, the creation of a Spring Festival directed by Paul Agnew, and the obtention of the French national label « Centre Culturel de Rencontre » for Les Arts Florissants projects in the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. In 2018 has been created the Fondation Les Arts Florissants – William Christie. William Christie gifted his entire Thiré estate to the Foundation.
Les Arts Florissants receives financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Communication, the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. The Ensemble has been in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015. The Selz Foundation, American Friends of Les Arts Florissants and Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank are Principal Sponsors.
William Christie
Harpsichordist, conductor, musicologist and teacher, William Christie is a pioneer in the rediscovery and introduction of French Baroque music to a wide audience. Born in Buffalo, and educated at Harvard and Yale, the turning point in his career came in 1979 when he founded Les Arts Florissants. As director of this vocal and instrumental ensemble, major public recognition came in 1987 with the production of Lully's Atys at the Opéra Comique in Paris, followed by many other successes in the French and European Baroque repertoire.
Notable among his recent operatic work are: Campra's Les Fêtes vénitiennes in 2015 at the Paris Opéra Comique and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; Theodora in 2016 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; in 2018, Handel’s Jephtha at the Opéra national de Paris, Ariodante at the Wiener Staatsoper, L'Incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburg Festival, and John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera on European tour.
As a guest conductor William Christie often appears at opera festivals including Glyndebourne (Giulio Cesare in 2018) and opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera or the Zurich Opernhaus.
His extensive discography includes more than 100 recordings. The most recent ones, “Un jardin à l'italienne”, “Bien que l'amour” and Bach’s B Minor Mass were released by harmonia mundi in the collection « Les Arts Florissants ».
Wishing to develop further his work as a teacher, in 2002 William Christie created with Les Arts Florissants a biennial Academy for young singers, Le Jardin des Voix. Since 2007 he has been artist in residence at the Juilliard School in New York.
In 2012, he launched the festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie in his own gardens, located in the French village of Thiré in the Vendée. William Christie has bequeathed his real-estate assets to the Foundation Les Arts Florissants–William Christie created in 2017.
Creative and Production Team
Musical direction｜William Christie
Les Arts Florissants
Soloists｜
Emmanuelle de Negri, soprano *
Katherine Watson, soprano *
Tim Mead, countertenor
James Way, tenor *
Padraic Rowan, bass *
* Former laureates of Le Jardin des Voix, Les Arts Florissants' academy for young singers
Choir and orchestra of Les Arts Florissants
Choir
Sopranos｜ Maud Gnidzaz, Virginie Thomas, Juliette Perret, Sheena Wolstencroft, Cécile Granger, Julia Wischniewski, Leila Zlassi, Solange Añorga
Mezzo-sopranos｜Alice Gregorio, Alice Habellion
Countertenors｜Bruno Le Levreur, Brian Cummings, Christophe Cbaska
Tenors｜Michael-Loughlin Smith, Edouard Haezebrouck, David Ghilardi, David Lefort, Matthieu Peyregne
Basse｜ Laurent Collobert, Anicet Castel, Christophe Gautier, Marduk Serrano Lopez, Yannis François
Orchestra
Violin｜Hiro Kurosaki, Emmanuel Resche, Catherine Girard, Christophe Robert, Myriam Gevers, Michèle Sauvé, Bernadette Charbonnier, Patrick Oliva, Sophie Gevers-Demoures, Sophie de Bardonnèche, TBC, TBC
Viola｜Galina Zinchenko, Simon Heyerick, Jean-Luc Thonnerieux, Kayo Saito
Cello｜ Elena Andreyev, Cyril Poulet, Cécile Verolles
Doublebass｜Joseph Carver
Oboe｜Pier Luigi Fabretti, Machiko Ueno
Bassoon｜Niels Coppalle, TBC
Horn｜Nicolas Chedmail, Philippe Bord
Trumpet｜Rupprecht Drees, Gilles Rapin
Timbal｜Laurent Sauron
Basso Continuo
Cello｜David Simpson
Doublebass｜Jonathan Cable
Organ｜Florian Carré
Sponsor
●Duration is 160 mins with 20 mins intermission.
●Performed in English with Chinese and English subtitles.
●Suitable for age 12+.Children under age 12 need to be accompanied by an adult.
●Latecomers must follow staff instructions for entry and re-entry.
●10% off for Weiwuying Lifestyle member
●25% off for Weiwuying Youth member
●Applicable for Weiwuying Unlimited member
For details, please see Weiwuying Members Benefit
