What you'll hear and see
The music
- Henry Purcell The Fairy Queen
The artists
- Les Arts Florissants
- William Christie conducting
- Paulina Francisco soprano
- Georgia Burashko mezzo soprano
- Rebecca Leggett mezzo soprano
- Juliette Mey mezzo soprano
- Rodrigo Carreto tenor
- Ilja Aksionov tenor
- Hugo Herman-Wilson baritone
- Benjamin Schilperoort bass-baritone
- Compagnie Käfig dance
- Samuel Florimond dance
- Anahi Passi dance
- Alary Ravin dance
- Daniel Saad dance
- Timothée Zig dance
- Mourad Merzouki mise en scène, choreography
- Rémi Autechaud choreography
- Claire Schirck costume design
- Fabrice Sarcy light
- Sophie Daneman directing
The Fairy Queen – loosely based on William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – is about the confusion arising when gods, elves, young lovebirds and oafish craftsmen share the stage. Henry Purcell classified his work as a semi-opera, leaving plenty of room for dance in so-called masques. Les Arts Florissants and William Christie have therefore teamed up with Mourad Merzouki’s Compagnie Käfig to give Purcell’s baroque sounds a special twist, drawing on the dance company’s urban-inspired choreographic idiom.