A French Baroque Christmas with Ensemble Correspondances at Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

The simple pleasure and extraordinary craftsmanship of Charpentier's Messe de minuit pour Noël is brought to life by the singers and instrumentalists of Liliane Bettencourt Prize winning Ensemble Correspondances, lead by Sébastien Daucé. The simplicity of the songs in this programme lends the entire Mass a cheerful character and a transparency that is anything but shallow, speaking instead in a language that is profoundly universal. Charpentier's mass is paired with a selection of Charpentier's other works, as well as the delicate beauty of Sébastien de Brossard 'O Miraculum.' “…the path followed by Sébastien Daucé and Correspondances represents the culmination of a practice deeply nourished by the French repertoire, a familiarity reinforced by a true ensemble spirit that privileges the blending of timbres, mutual listening, and a harmonic culture that brings to the surface details otherwise buried: Italian reminiscences, verbal rhetoric, the rare grain of the continuo, and the absolute primacy of the text. – Jérémie Rousseau (Radio-France)