Symphonia harmoniæ cælestium revelationum (version 11/69)

François  Chaignaud and Marie-Pierre Brébant share an interest in music as an  experience: open and multifarious, steeped in history, in contact with  other modes of expression. Running counter to any orthodox  interpretation, the starting point of their work can be linked to a  utopian future, dreamt at the intersection of the score, a particular  person. This person is Hildegard von Bingen, a 12th-century Benedictine  nun and mystic who was also a theologian, physician and musician who  left behind her a musical oeuvre grouped under the title Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum.  Chaignaud and Brébant’s approach consists in reinterpreting its  monodies by adapting them for voice and bandura (a traditional Ukrainian  instrument) and exploring their musical and spiritual content outside  traditional frameworks. In an act of deviation from Catholic  hagiography, from ancient music and contemporary choreography, they seek  to take full measure of these revelations in order to bring out the  liberty of these ardent visions and their carnal relationship with the  divine. This unique creation will culminate in the in extenso performance  of the sixty-nine antiennes. Their performance lies at the frontier  between meditative installation, concert and contemplative choreography.  Through the combined resources of body, voice and bandura, they create  an image as much as a dance, a sculpture of time as much as a vision of  ecstasy.

Source: program of the CND