"In the gardens of William Christie", a festival that combines baroque music and the art of gardens
The festival "In the gardens of William Christie" which brings together music and garden art each year begins on Saturday August 21 on the site of Thiré in Vendée.
For ten years, Thiré, a village of 560 inhabitants, has become a temple of baroque music in August during a festival. The conductor and harpsichordist William Christie bought a smallholding in 1985 around which he imagined and created gardens where music would naturally find its place. "Here, the singers are on the edge of a small river, in a grove or in a theater of greenery", he explains.
The festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary and the Académie du jardin des voix, which recruits and trains young singers every two years for a creation, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. It therefore finds a large place in the program this year: former winners will sing a work by Purcell and the six singers selected in 2021 will create Partenope, an opera by Handel.
The Academy plays an essential role for young singers. "The birth of the idea was to bridge the gap between the conservatory and the start of a career, how to start a career when no one has heard your voice, wonders the co-director of the Academy, Paul Agnew. Usually it's a matter of chance and we want to remove this chance and present the singers in the best conditions, well prepared in the roles that go with their personality, in front of the general public.
Singers of all nationalities
Among the 2021 laureates is Portuguese soprano Anna Viera Leite. Aged 26, she finished her studies last year. "It's a dream to be here because it's ideal to start our career and it's a pleasure to work with these great musicians, it's very important to me," she says.
The young singers of the Academy will open the festival. Frenchman Mathieu Walendzik knows he's going to perform in an exceptional setting: "I think it's the first time in my life and maybe the only time I'm going to sing on the water because we have a set magnificent, right in the middle of the gardens imagined by William Christie, on its water mirror, I think that being surrounded by beauty like that makes you want to surpass yourself all the more."
In addition to the evening concerts, the festival offers every afternoon concerts walks in the gardens and this until August 28th.
"In the gardens of William Christie", a baroque music festival in Thiré from August 21 to 28.
