Canticum Novum & Emmanuel Bardon
Biography Canticum Novum & Emmanuel Bardon
Canticum Novum
Canticum Novum’s ambition is to convey as effectively as is possible through music a message of mutual respect, tolerance and acceptance of difference, by going back to a time when music was a symbol of integration and communal life. Rediscovering the heritage of early music at the same time as aiming to engage with the widest possible audience is one of Canticum Novum’s founding principles.
Since 2007, Canticum Novum has been in residence at the Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne, and in 2009 it assumed the artistic direction of the Festin Musical de Pommiers, an early music festival focused on encounters between different peoples and cultures that takes place in the Cluniac priory of Pommiers-en-Forez.
By virtue of its history, Spanish early music stands at a cultural crossroads. Imbued with an ardent, baroque mysticism in which exuberance comes face to face with austerity and ancient paganism with extreme piety, Spanish culture is enriched by the union of the Western Christian world with a dual heritage from the East – both Jewish and Moorish.
Aiming to add a theatrical dimension to its exploration of this Spain of three cultures, in September 2011 Canticum Novum premiered Hayim, a tale for shadow theatre written by Gilles Grenouillet and co-produced by the Jeunesses Musicales de France; while November 2014 saw the first production of Bülbül, a music theatre piece for all ages which takes the audience on a visual and imaginative journey.
