The "Arts Flo" adventure: the origins of a Baroque project
Discover the origins of a unique and fascinating artistic adventure: how Les Arts Florissants gave new life to baroque music became one of the most famous ensembles in the world!
Young William Christie playing the harpsichord (1970) by William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
An American in Paris
William Christie is 25 years old when he moves to Paris in 1971. A young American born in Buffallo, he studied music and harpsichord at Harvard and Yale. But he is above all a young man looking for a new impetus, far from the Vietnam War which was raging at the time...
Extract from the rehearsals of the opera "Médée" by Charpentier in 1984 (1984) by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
Baroque, you say ?
William Christie has a great passion for Baroque music, particularly French music, which he takes particular pleasure in performing on the harpsichord. This repertoire, covering musical production from the end of the 16th century to the 18th century in Europe, is incredibly varied...
Baroque music according to William Christie (1985) (1985) by Les Arts Florissants and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
A new breath
... But in the 70's, there is little interest in baroque music. Not "written" enough, too strange with its use of high voices for the men, its stories where characters cross-dress... Yet it is precisely that, which interests William Christie. The scores seem incomplete? Then they leave room for improvisation, and thus for an interpretation that is all the more free, natural – in short, full of life!
Rameau's "Castor et Pollux" at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (1991) by Les Arts Florissants and Michel SzaboLes Arts Florissants
Les Arts Florissants comes to life
Very quickly, the charismatic personality of "Bill" Christie leads him to beautiful encounters with musicians and personalities from the cultural world. In 1979, he reaches the major turning point in his career by creating his own ensemble: Les Arts Florissants. With it, he will revolutionize the way baroque music is seen in France and in the world...
"Les Indes galantes" by Rameau - "Forêts Paisibles" (2005) by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Arts Florissants, and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
Baroque « à la mode »
By choosing the title of a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier as a name, William Christie sets the tone: Les Arts Florissants will be above all an ensemble of French music. A bold move for an American!
"Atys" by Lully - "Venez tous dans mon temple" (2011) by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Les Arts Florissants, and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
The « Atys » epiphany
During the 1980s, Les Arts Florissants gradually gains notoriety. But this is nothing compared to what is to come with the re-creation of Lully's Atys at the Opéra Comique in Paris, in collaboration with stage director Jean-Marie Villégier. Characteristic of the tragédie lyrique (a very French form of opera, specific to the century of Louis XIV), Atys had been dormant for more than two centuries until this 1987 production... the success is resounding!
Lully's "Atys" at the Opéra Comique (1992) by William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
Paul Agnew, a new face for Les Arts Flo
Atys is a turning point in more ways than one, for it also allows William Christie to meet the man who would become his deputy, and then co-musical director of Les Arts Florissants: the British tenor Paul Agnew.
"Hercules" by Handel - "Jealousy! Infernal pest! Tyrant of the human breast" (2004) by George Frideric Handel, Les Arts Florissants, and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
International success
From then on, Les Arts Florissants tours the world and the greatest stages, from Paris to New York, London, Madrid, Moscow, Beijing etc. A man of the theater, William Christie excels particularly in opera, a genre born precisely... in the Baroque era!
Rehearsal in Vendée at William Christie's (1984) (1984) by Les Arts Florissants and William ChristieLes Arts Florissants
The Vendée adventure
But the adventure is not only built in these prestigious places. Since the birth of Les Arts Florissants, it is in a village in the Vendée that William Christie has come to find the calm for his inspiration. It was there, too, that he launched the other extraordinary undertaking of his life: the renovation of a 16th-century dwelling, the creation of a unique garden... and the founding of an international arts campus.
"Ma bergère est tendre et fidèle" - Michel Lambert (2020) by Les Arts FlorissantsLes Arts Florissants
New artists, new emotions: the passion of transmission
The adventure of Les Arts Florissants unfolds daily, thanks to the extraordinary artists who contribute to it, from one generation to the next, whether they are instrumentalists, singers... and now also gardeners or heritage specialists! An artistic epic, but above all a human one, turned towards the future and where the baroque is always conjugated in the present.
"Partenope" by Handel - 2021 Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie (2021) by Les Arts Florissants and Julien GazeauLes Arts Florissants
A music festival… in gardens
This project became fully that of Les Arts Florissants in 2012, when the very first Festival Dans les Jardins de William Christie took place. From this first edition, each summer the public as well as the artists are at the rendez-vous. And this is just the beginning!
Conception: Marie LobrichonLes Arts Florissants receives financial support from the State, the Regional Direction of Cultural Affairs (DRAC), the Département de la Vendée and the Région Pays de la Loire. They have been artists in residence at the Philharmonie de Paris since 2015. The artistic season is sponsored by Aline Foriel-Destezet. The Selz Foundation and American Friends of Les Arts Florissants are Principal Sponsors.
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