Fioretti and Uccellini - Festival Messiaen 2026

Echoing Saint Francis of Assisi, because each new work takes up its spiritual and dramaturgical architecture: the eight parts of the opera are retained as a backbone. But also in reverse, because the means are radically reversed. The orchestral and choral monumentality is countered by a deliberately smaller instrumental complement. The multiplicity of voices is answered by a single voice. The theological fresco is answered by concentrated, almost interior speech. The aim is not to adapt or comment on Messiaen's work, but to offer a contemporary counterpoint: an inverted meditation, a condensed journey, where the spiritual experience is played out in the intensity of timbre, silence and word. In counterpoint, pianist Marie Vermeulin recalls the birdsong so dear to both Messiaen and Saint François. La Rousserolle effarvatte, taken from the Catalogue d'oiseaux, plunges the listener between reeds, ponds and marshes, and extends the reflection by opening up a listening space attentive to the living. Fioretti et Uccellini - WORLD CREATION Arthur Lavandier, music Frédéric Boyer, libretto Franciscan miniatures echoing - in reverse - Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise La Croix Lauds The Kiss to the Leper L'Ange voyageur The Musician Angel The Preaching to the Birds The Stigmata Death and New Life