La Main Harmonique

The Pharos Arts Foundation and the Institut Français de Chypre, supported by TOTAL E&P CYPRUS, present La Main Harmonique, under the direction of Frédéric Bétous, in a unique concert of Orlando Lasso’s Prophetiae Sibyllarum. La Main Harmonique, founded in 2010 in the south-western Midi-Pyrénées region, represents a hub for fruitful encounters among specialized musicians and singers, who are always distinguished by a sense of curiosity, adventure, and musical excellence and a never-ending spirit of discovery. The ensemble specializes in the exploration and performance of the polyphonic masterpieces of the Renaissance so as to unveil and convey this rich, yet relatively unknown, repertoire to the general audience.

For their concert in Cyprus, on Tuesday 16 December, at The Shoe Factory / 8:30pm, La Main Harmonique (comprising eight singers) will perform one of the most emblematic works of the Renaissance: Orlando Lasso’s master-cycle Prophetiae Sibyllarum, consisting of 13 miniature, secular motets based on poems by Virgil, Horace and Seneca.

LA MAIN HARMONIQUE
Passionately guided by its founder and artistic director Frédéric Bétous, the ensemble La Main Harmonique specializes in the exploration and performance of the polyphonic masterpieces of the Renaissance so as to unveil and convey this rich, yet relatively unknown, repertoire to the general audience.

The ensemble also invests in today’s music innovation by collaborating and forming valuable relationships with contemporary composers. Acting both as interpreters and creators, the members of La Main Harmonique are particularly focused on grasping the essence of the composition and comprehending the objective of the composer. La Main Harmonique, founded in 2010 in the south-western Midi-Pyrénées region, represents a hub for fruitful encounters among specialized musicians and singers, who are always distinguished by a sense of curiosity, adventure, and musical excellence and a never-ending spirit of discovery.

Released in 2010, La Main Harmonique’s first recording Ockeghem & Compère, was highly praised by the national and international press. Since then, the ensemble has appeared in many renowned venues and has performed in international festivals in France and abroad: Festival de La-Chaise-Dieu (partner of the Clemens Deus Artifex recording dedicated to the music composed during the tenure of Pope Clement), Rencontres des musiques anciennes d’Odyssud-Blagnac, Festival des Lumières de Sorèze, Méridiennes de Tours, Muziekcentrum De Bijloke (Gent, Belgium), Europäische Avantgarde um 1400 - SWR2 & Stadt Konstanz (Germany).

La Main Harmonique has also been involved in the 700th anniversary celebrations of the Palais des Papes in Avignon through a programme on Pétrarque with madrigals by Willaert and Rore. The programme, entitled L’Aura mia Sacra, was released in 2013 and established the ensemble’s undertaking in contemporary music through a commission to the French-Greek composer Alexandros Markéas. The willingness of its members to shed light on the analogies and correspondences between Renaissance polyphonic music and contemporary classical music has become one of the core components of La Main Harmonique’s identity ever since. This is manifested in the ensemble’s last project, which relies on musicological research as well as contemporary music creation: Focused on Carlo Gesualdo and his Sacrae Cantiones for six or seven voices – which was incomplete but has recently been restored by Marc Busnel from the Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance in Tours – the project also includes original music by composer and contralto Caroline Marçot, commissioned by La Main Harmonique.

La Main Harmonique has an artistic residency at La Romieu Collegiate Church (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), and appears regularly in their regional location in Gascony. Having launched its own festival – Musique en Chemin – the ensemble offers high quality concerts in an informal context, along the magnificent buildings and landscapes of the Route of Santiago de Compostela in the heart of Armagnac.

THE WORK:
Orlando Lasso (1532-1594) – The Secular Pieces of Prophetiae Sibyllarum

The early Sibyls or prophetesses were archaic figures who pervaded the Greek and Roman imagination. Impersonating the link between man and his gods, they survived in Christian times as seeresses who prophesized the Saviour’s Realm. This fantastic source inspired Orlando Lasso, the most famous composer of his time, to write a cycle of 13 motets which became a masterpiece of Renaissance composition. The Prophetiae Sibyllarum (a series of miniatures combining polyphony and chromaticism, inexplicableness and mysticism) were written in Munich during Lasso’s service for Duke Albert of Bavaria and remained in the Duke’s exclusive and secret property for many years until they were published only in 1600.

The concert will allow the audience to discover these rare secular motets, written on poems by Virgil, Horace and Seneca. These important authors of the Antique spirit are the prophetic well from which the Renaissance men drew their ideas of wisdom, human values, and culture as the insight of natural human qualities. The concert is also an opportunity to embark on a new journey with Orlando Lasso, the humanist and the musician, the spiritual and poetic seer.

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)