Rameau: The Temple of Glory, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale

SHOWTIMES: Friday, April 28th @ 8pm [ZH] Saturday, April 29th @ 8pm [ZH] Sunday, April 30th @ 3pm [ZH] The vivid musical imagination of French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau is brought to life in a lavish new staging of his opera-ballet Le temple de la gloire, featuring the inimitable Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, with leading proponents of period dance, The New York Baroque Dance Company. Rameau's first version of the score, with a libretto by Voltaire, was long thought lost—but the original 1745 manuscript was discovered in the UC Berkeley library, inspiring PBO's director, Nicholas McGegan, to mount this new production in collaboration with Cal Performances, the first staged version since the work's premiere at Versailles in 1745. Voltaire's libretto is in the form of a ballet héroïque, an allegorical ballet that uses mythological characters like Apollo, Bacchus, and classical demons and gods in a grandiose spectacle with moral and political overtones. Rameau's brilliantly orchestrated music evokes heroic military grandeur and rustic pastoral splendor. Costumes are provided by the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles. "McGegan's interest in French music has deep roots. Interpretatively, he does not put a foot wrong. His instinctive feel for tempi and unfailingly elegant sense...is shared by the band" (BBC Music Magazine). #BerkeleyRADICAL #Immersion