Granville Island - Island Plaza
Baroque in Motion on Granville Island
A Free Outdoor Concert
Artists: Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, dance; Gallo Chamber Players
Times: 12pm & 2pm
Returning to Granville Island this July! Experience the refined steps of 17th- and 18th-century dances brought to life through live music. This free outdoor concert transforms the plaza into a vibrant celebration with dancer and early dance expert Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière accompanied by the Gallo Chamber Players. We invite audiences to experience the joyous rhythms of the past in the summer sunshine.
PROGRAMME
Giovanni Battista Fontana (1589-1630)
Sonata 16 a 3 Violini
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Fantasia: Three Parts on a Ground
Domenico Gallo (1723-1781)
Sonata 12 La Follia
Georg Arnold (1621-1676)
Canzoni
John Banister (1630-1679)
Ayres in Four Parts
Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière, Dance
A recipient of grants from the Canada and Quebec Arts Council, Marie-Nathalie Lacoursière has a multidisciplinary background in music, acting (specialising in commedia dell’arte) and dancing. She is an associate partner with Toronto Masque Theatre and with Le Nouvel Opéra (Montreal), and she is the artistic director of Les Jardins chorégraphiques in Montreal.
For over 20 years she directed, choreographed or danced with many groups in Canada, the United States and Europe. She was invited in many festivals: the Festival of ideas (Edmonton), Orford Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, (Lully’s Psyché), the Vancouver Early Music Festival, the New Zealand Chamber Music Festival, the Festival de Lanvellec in France, the Festival Musicale Estense in Modena (Italy), and at The International Baroque Festival in Lamèque. For the past six years she has directed and choreographed the finale of the Festival Montréal Baroque.
She has choreographed all of Purcell stage works for the Toronto Masque Theatre, and has created Mozart a Milano (2006) and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen (2009) which were both nominated for the Opus Prize best performance of the year.
She has also gained a reputation as a stage director for many opera productions: Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann for Youth and Music Canada; Bizet’s Carmen for the Opera-Theatre in Rimouski; Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas for Appolo’s Fire in Cleveland; Rossini et ses muses, le Grand Dîner, Visibilia (Monteverdi), and La Belle Danse for L’opéra de Montréal; and Rameau’s Pygmalion for Le Nouvel Opéra and the Vancouver Early Music Festival.
At the University of Montreal opera division she has directed Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Strauss’ Zigeunerbaron and Fledermaus, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, and Campra’s Les fêtes vévitiennes and L’Europe Galante. For McGill University she has directed Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno d’Ullisse in Patria and Lully-Molière’s Les jeux de l’Amour, and choreographed Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes.
Ms Lacoursière is a Professor of gesture and baroque dance at the University of Montreal, and also taught at Université du Québec à Montréal, Stanford University in California, Indiana University, the University of Alberta and the University of Sackville in New Brunswick. She created Lully’s Le Ballet de l’Impatience which premiered at the Festival Montréal Baroque in June 2011.
The Gallo Chamber Players
