Amour à mort

When Tancred meets Clorinda, he immediately falls in love. But - tragic irony of fate! - he is a valiant Crusader knight and she is a Moor. She is also a fearsome warrior, and their budding love will end in a fight to the death. Based on this legend, captured in poetry in Jerusalem delivered and set to music in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, Amour à mort takes us on a journey combining theatre and music, at the crossroads of madrigal, intermezzo and opera.

O Night, who in your dark bosom
hid such a glorious deed in deep oblivion
- such deeds are worthy
of daylight or a vast theatre -
let me snatch them from the shadows
and pass them on
to future generations.
The Combat of Tancred and Clorinda

Leonardo García Alarcón is well known to audiences in Nancy, having conducted a number of memorable productions and concerts in recent years, including Rossi's Enchanted Palace and Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. The Argentinian conductor is one of those who are taking Baroque music to new heights, helping to make it more contemporary than ever and resolutely festive. Here he collaborates with stage director Jean-Yves Ruf. Featuring a selection of gems from the Baroque repertoire, new compositions and improvisations, the actors, singers and musicians weave a vast tapestry of human passions - from desire to war - that have spanned the centuries.