Scaramouche et Music-Hall

SCARAMOUCHE ET MUSIC-HALL « A very sad evening ahead, that’s for sure!

SCARAMOUCHE ET MUSIC-HALL

« A very sad evening ahead, that’s for sure!  »

Hervé Niquet

Composed by Hervé Niquet, the programme for this concert holds many surprises… While the Orchestre de chambre de Paris is somewhat at home at the Théâtre du Châtelet, who would expect a conductor specialising in French baroque opera to be accompanied by his choir to perform orchestrated melodies by Bourvil, Charles Trenet, or Maurice Chevalier? Yet these artists feature prominently in this programme, as does successful operetta composer Francis Lopez who, in addition to being the author of La Belle de Cadix and Le Chanteur de Mexico, directed the Théâtre du Châtelet in the early seventies. It was around this time that Hervé Niquet discovered the Parisian arts scene and the capital’s musical life, of which Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier’s famous television shows offered a glimpse. Hervé Niquet befriended Madeleine Milhaud, a musicologist, who made him promise to perform a work that her husband, Darius, who readily and mischievously described himself as “French from Provence and of Israelite religion*” had composed for the Lemon Festival in Menton. Barba Garibo, an entertainment based on themes from Menton folklore for mixed choir and orchestra, with texts composed by Armand Lunel, is indeed one of the gems of this festive concert! More than just an Auberge du Cheval-Blanc, from which excerpts are also on the programme, this evening promises to be a musical melting pot for musicians who love the Théâtre du Châtelet!

Musical direction Hervé Niquet

Clarinet Florent Pujuila

Chœur du Concert Spirituel

Orchestre de chambre de Paris

Works by Darius Milhaud (Scaramouche, Barba Garibo), Charles Trenet, Charles Lecocq, Francis Lopez, Ralph Benatzky, Maurice Chevalier, Roger Roger, Bourvil, Henri Betti, Leroy Anderson, Cole Porter, George Gershwin