From
Darkness
into
light

Although he was not originally from Nancy, the city of Nancy nevertheless owes a huge debt of gratitude to the Breton Guy Ropartz, director of its Conservatoire from 1894 to 1919, and above all, the man who initiated the season concerts of its orchestra, the direct forebear of Orchestra of the Opéra national de Lorraine. With that in mind, it is his 1897 Ave Verum that serves as the sacred centrepiece to a programme devised for the Opera Chorus. A pivot at the exact midpoint of day and night, at that precise instant where time is cancelled out in an imponderable suspense. Before: the darkness, the djinns, and the brigands stir in the evening air… And afterwards: the light gradually breaks through while the mysterious footsteps of a guardian angel echo among the flowers and trees of an avenue and herald the radiant sunlight of day. Lili Boulanger, Berlioz, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Franck will help us to celebrate this natural and metaphorical transition from darkness into light.