cross arts opera - Rameau: PYGMALION

Ensemble Molière had a fantastic run of Pygmalion at the Brighton Early Music Festival in October, the show was a resounding success and struck a chord with young and old alike.

• In November, Ensemble Molière joined forces with James Redwood, Brighton Early Music Festival and three schools across Brighton for a fantastic education project, culminating in a live performance at St George's Church Kemptown. The students composed original music in response to the story of Pygmalion, taking inspiration from Rameau's score and performed it alongside members of Ensemble Molière in a wonderful and memorable concert. 

• Earlier in the year Ensemble Molière appeared on BBC Radio 3 In Tune talking about Pygmalion. Click here to listen again to the beautiful rendition of Fatal Amour sung by Josh Cooter and accompanied by Ensemble Molière. 

Ensemble Molière will take Pygmalion to the streets of 21st century Paris in an exciting and bite sized version of Jean-Philippe Rameau's opera. We are lucky to be working with Karolina Sofulak, Kate Anderson and Natalie Rowland. Ensemble Molière's very own keyboard player, Satoko Doi-Luck will be taking up the role of Musical Director, and Josh Cooter, Roberta Diamond and Angie Hicks make up our illustrious cast of singers. We will be joined by a further two musicians, Oonagh Lee and Ellen Bundy, to bolster our forces for this magnificent opera. The opera will be performed at the Stroud Green Festival in June and at the Brighton Early Music Festival in October, we would like to thank both festivals for their continued support and help with Pygmalion. 

Rameau's opera tells the story of Pygmalion, an artist who creates an incredible statue of a beautiful woman. He becomes infatuated with the statue, begging Venus to bring her to life much to the dismay of his partner Céphise. Magically the statue comes alive! The Graces teaches her to dance, to sing and to understand the world and ultimately Pygmalion and the statue fall in love with each other. And, in order to tie up loose ends, Cupid finds Céphise a new partner and everyone lives happily ever after! 

For the complete biographies of cast and crew, please click here for February's introductory blog post. 

Josh Cooter (Pygmalion)
Roberta Diamond (Céphise)
Angie Hicks (Statue)

Karolina Sofulak (Stage Director)
Satoko Doi-Luck (Musical Director)
Kate Anderson (Animation Artist)
Natalie Rowland (Lighting Designer)

Alice Earll (Violin)
Ellen Bundy (Violin)
Flavia Hirte (Flute)  
Oonagh Lee (Oboe and Voice Flute) 
Jakab Kaufmann (Bassoon) 
Kate Conway (Viola da Gamba) 

Thank you to everyone who donated to our Crowdfunder campaign!

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Wow! That makes a total of 91 backers in 28 days, thank you!