500 Years of Music at Chambord Castle — With Christophe Rousset, Véronique Gens, Sophie Karthäuser, Philipp Mathmann, Jean-Sébastian Bou, Jérôme Boutillier, Emiliano González Toro
Les Talens Lyriques, Le Parnasse français, Doulce Mémoire
Cast
Véronique Gens — Soprano
Sophie Karthäuser — Soprano
Philipp Mathmann — Countertenor
Jean-Sébastien Bou — Bass-baritone
Program notes
In 1519, construction began on what would become one of the most iconic monuments in the world: the Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley. To mark the momentous occasion half a millennium later, an extraordinary concert took place in 2019 on the castle’s rooftop terrace—as breathtaking a venue as we’ve ever seen!—to look back on 500 years of cultural history that had seen the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Louis XIV, Molière, Lully, and others fall in love with the one-of-a-kind castle.
Festive French and Italian masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Romantic era resound over the castle walls, including works like Molière and Lully’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme that were performed for the very first time at Chambord. Plunge into the history of this awe-inspiring edifice with Christophe Rousset’s world-renowned Les Talens Lyriques, Denis Raisin Dadre’s Doulce Mémoire, and Louis Castelain’s Parnasse français, featuring big-name soloists: sopranos Véronique Gens and Sophie Karthäuser, baritones Jean-Sébastien Bou and Jérôme Boutillier, tenor Emiliano Gonzalez Toro and countertenor Philipp Mathmann, mezzo Lucile Richardot, and pianist Vanessa Wagner.
