LIGHTEN MINE EIES
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The year 1645 was a great loss for English music. In the midst of a civil war, William Lawes was killed on 24 September during the siege of Chester, a bastion defended by royalists loyal to Charles I. The 43-year-old death of Henry Lawes' younger brother was rightly perceived as a tragedy by the English music world of the time. His work is filled with lightning bolts of genius. Little known today by the general public, it shines through its inventiveness and the choice of the formations chosen. His Harp Consorts, probably composed for the private setting of the King who had several harpists in his ranks, illustrate this avant-garde and the composer’s creativity, leaving us with one of the first scores specially designed for the Harp. To accompany these works, we have chosen to present an even less known part of the work of William Lawes which attests well to the musician’s talent. Choice psalms, published posthumously by Henry Lawes in 1648, unveils sublime psalms set to music by his little brother for three voices and bass continues. Lighten mine eies, a program which borrows its title from some verses from a psalm attributed to King David (himself presumed harpist), proposes to associate with the Harp consorts these passionate vocal works, unjustly ignored, who seem to be able to touch us as William Lawes' own death did with his musician friends.
PERFORMERS - CONCERTS
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MAÏLYS DE VILLOUTREYS - SOPRANO
ANAÏS BERTRAND / FIONA MCGOWN - MEZZO SOPRANO
ALEX ROSEN / OLIVIER GOURDY - BASS
PERNELLE MARZORATI - HARP
SIMON WADDELL - THEORBOEOR
LORIS BARRUCAND - HARPSICHORD & ORGAN
FIONA ÉMILE POUPARD - VIOLIN & VIOLA DA GAMBA
ROBIN PHARO - VIOLA DA GAMBA & DIRECTION
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17/07/22 Festival de Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, France
21/07/22 Festival de Saintes, France
21/04/24 Abbaye de Noirlac, France
27/04/24 Saison du festival baroque de Pontoise, France
07/07/24 Festival d'Asfeld, France
26/06/25 Midsummer festival, elizabethan theater in Hardelot, France
28/06/25 Festival Musiq3, Belgique
19/09/25 Max festival, Belgique
21/09/25 Journées du Patrimoine, Limousin, France
06/11/25 Gent Muziekcentrum, Belgique
07/11/25 Atelier Lyrique de Tourcoing, France
09/11/25 Château de Lunéville
14/11/25 Centre des arts et de culture de Seville, Espacio Turina, Espagne
16/11/25 Musicales du Causse de Gramat, France
17/11/25 Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, France​