THURSDAY, 5th JUNE 2025 – 8 pm

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“1492, A MUSICAL JOURNEY”

ENSEMBLE OBSIDIENNE

Florence JACQUEMART voice, flutes, bagpipes…
Hélène MOREAU voice, narration, psaltery, organetto…
Colin BONNARDOT voice, percussion…
Barnabé JANIN voice, narration, vihuela…
Pierre BOURHIS voice, narration
Camille BONNARDOT voice, narration, citole, vihuela…
Pierre TESSIER voice, narration
Ludovic MONTET voice, narration, tympanum, percussion…
Emmanuel BONNARDOT voice, narration, bowed fiddles, wheel fiddle, horn, cornett…

Cancionero del Palacio, Sephardic songs and other Renaissance music works
Excerpts from texts by Amerigo Vespucci

The Ensemble Obsidienne evokes the musical universe of Christopher Columbus sailing towards America, accompanied by the festive, rhythmic and danceable melodies of the Cancionero del Palacio, but also with the elegance and refinement of courtly music and popular songs from the Renaissance of the very beginning of the 16th century. Through recounting the travel stories of Amerigo Vespucci (the explorer whose name will be given to the “New World”) and some excerpts from Native American myths, Obsidienne explores the transformation of exchange into pillaging and the deafening silence of the dead. A moment of musical history, a question of heritage that is both relevant and rich.

FRIDAY, 6th JUNE 2025 – 7:30 pm

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“LEÇONS DE TÉNÈBRES”

ENSEMBLE CARAVANSÉRAIL

Maïlys de VILLOUTREYS soprano
Rachel REDMOND soprano
Isabelle SAINT-YVES viola da gamba
Bertrand CUILLER organ, harpsicord and conducting

Trois Leçons de Ténèbres pour le Mercredy (Three lessons of darkness for Mercredy) by François Couperin
Suite for viola da gamba by Marin Marais
Pieces for harpsichord by François Couperin

Composed for the liturgy of Holy Week on the text of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres pour le Mercredy are considered one of the highlights of baroque vocal art. This gem will be performed here by two of the most beautiful voices of the current baroque scene: Rachel Redmond and Maïlys de Villoutreys with the musicality of both resting on the powerful continuo of two great instrumentalists with a flagrant complicity: Isabelle Saint-Yves, viola da gamba, and Bertrand Cuiller, organ and harpsicord. A moment of suspension is awaiting us.

SATURDAY, 7th JUNE 2025 – 11 am

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“CANZONI E SONATE CONCERTATE”

ENSEMBLE LES TRAVERSÉES BAROQUES

Alice JULIEN-LAFERRIÈRE violin
Judith PACQUIER cornett
Christine PLUBEAU viola da gamba
Laurent STEWART harpsichord and organ

Instrumental works by Cima, Bassano, Marini, Buxtehude, Rosenmüller, Froberger, Cavalli…

Strange, whimsical, theatrical, extroverted, vocal, fantastic: halfway between the chamber, the church and the theatre, the Canzoni and other instrumental Sonatas appeared at the dawn of the Baroque period. At the end of the 16th century, the role of any good instrumentalist was the imitation of singing and the human voice. But little by little, he frees himself from this practice, notably by adding diminutions that will allow him to consider the birth of a specifically instrumental repertoire more and more virtuoso and extroverted. If some of these first sonatas often remain inspired by a vocal form, others quickly plunge us into the exploration of a “new world”, in which inventiveness, virtuosity and innovation are the key words.

SATURDAY, 7th JUNE 2025 – 7:30 pm

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“SUBLIMATION”

ENSEMBLE THE CURIOUS BARDS

Ilektra PLATIOPOULOU mezzo-soprano
Alix BOIVERT violi, hardingfele and conducting
Sarah VAN OUDENHOVE viola da gamba
Jean-Christophe MOREL cittern
Colin HELLER violin and nyckelharpa

Works by Scandinavian composers, such as Dahlgren, Elers, Larsson, Schodsberg, Kruge…

This new program highlights a little-known repertoire: that of the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark…). Using typical instruments such as the Swedish nyckelharpa or the Norwegian hardingfele, the Curious Bards will reveal to us all the richness and singularity of a music as rare as it is magnificent, influenced by gaelic culture. These dances and songs composed in the 18th century all come from manuscripts that have been little explored until now. A unique, exotic and intensely fresh program!

SUNDAY, 8th JUNE 2025 – 7.30 pm

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“GOLDBERG VARIATIONS”

ENSEMBLE NEVERMIND

Anna BESSON traverso flute
Louis CREAC’H violin
Robin PHARO viola da gamba
Jean RONDEAU harpsichord

Goldberg Variations BWV 988 by Johann Sebastian Bach (transcription by Nevermind)

An expert in baroque music, the Nevermind quartet casts its inventive eye on the illustrious Goldbergs and offers us an eloquent variation… of these variations. Bach did not hesitate to recycle in his works his own musical material as well as that of his peers, operating not for economy but for enrichment. It is in this baroque spirit of excellence, and with all the elasticity offered by the combination of four perspectives anchored in their century, that Nevermind transposes the original monologue of the harpsichord into a discourse with unprecedented relief, depth and colors, for traverso flute, violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. A real work of creation

MONDAY, 9th JUNE 2025 – 11 am

SAINT-NICOLAS CHURCH, ROUGEMONT

“IMPROVISATIONS AND OTHER TREATIES”

Rudolf LUTZ organ and harpsichord

Improvisations on the organ and harpsichord

A true pillar of the festival from the first to the sixteenth edition, Ruedi Lutz (as he is known by his friends) offers us the honor and joy to see him return to Rougemont for another lesson of playing, improvisation and humor about which only he knows the secret. We will have the chance to listen to his playing on one of Jean-Michel Chabloz’s marvelous harpsichords and on the magnificent Gallery organ of the church of Rougemont.

MONDAY, 9th JUNE 2025 – 4 am

ÉGLISE SAINT-NICOLAS DE ROUGEMONT

“OMBRA E LUCE”

ENSEMBLE LE BANQUET CÉLESTE

Céline SCHEEN soprano
Marie ROUQUIÉ violin
Simon PIERRE violin
Julien BARRE cello
Diego SALAMANCA theorbo
Kenin MANENT-NAVRATIL harpsichord

Cantata Correa nel seno amato by Alessandro Scarlatti
Sinfonia a tre amato by Alessandro Stradella
Cantata Il più misero amante by Alessandro Stradella
Trio Sonata by Arcangelo Corelli
Da chi spero aita, o Cieli, aria from the oratorio “La Susanna” by Alessandro Stradella

Led by the soprano Céline Scheen, the Ensemble Le Banquet Céleste offers us a concert in “chiaroscuro” around three major composers of the late Italian Baroque – Stradella, Corelli and Scarlatti. The vocal and instrumental works presented will take us on a sensitive journey into the dark and luminous intensities of feelings.