L’Autre bord de la Grande île

Taking the early seventeenth-century foundation of Quebec by the Frenchman Samuel de Champlain as their starting point, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien and soprano Élodie Fonnard highlight the musical connections between the two countries over a period of 150 years. It’s a perfect occasion to make a long expedition through time and space, exploring both popular and learned repertoires.

L’Autre bord de la Grande Île, or The Other Shore of the Great Island, offers a double invitation to embark on a journey with Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien as they delve into both learned and traditional repertoires, bringing together the French music from the time of Samuel de Champlain and the songs this navigator/soldier/cartographer discovered in the new land of Quebec. The ports of call of François Lazarevitch, his ensemble, and Élodie Fonnard include England, Ireland, Nova Scotia and New France, where abundant songs, popular airs, and dances – some even danced on stage – awaited them.

This fertile musical and narrative thread also beckons the listener on a voyage through time. It begins in France around 1600 with Prætorius and Guédron and widens its horizons to include the music of Purcell, then Rameau, Couperin, Marais and Boismortier, gradually reaching the second half of the eighteenth century. In their now customary role of “border crossers”, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien bring about unexpected encounters by juxtaposing countries and eras, written and oral repertoires, and sung and danced genres.

For 1 soprano, 5 instrumentalists et 1 dancer
Solists
Élodie Fonnard, soprano
François Lazarevitch, direction, flutes/smallpipe 
Formation
violin, viola da gamba, theorbo / guitar, harp