Marc Antoine Charpentier wrote “Les Arts Florissants” in 1685 – but his message is particularly relevant today, said Oliver Camacho, who is producing the French baroque opera to be sung by VOX 3 Collective for The Early Music Series Feb. 19 at the Byron Colby Barn.
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“There is a strong political message in this show, which unfortunately, is too timely,” said Camacho, VOX 3’s resident expert in 17th and 18th century music, and co-host of the weekly radio show Opera Box Score.
“In the opera, ‘Les Arts Florissants,’ the arts are menaced or endangered by Discord, a blustery character,” Camacho said. “The message is that arts cannot flourish if there is no peace.”
Camacho has gathered period instrument specialists and well-known opera soloists from the Chicago area to join the VOX 3 Collection for the production. The 10-year-old ensemble of 40 musicians performs many different styles, including early music as well as contemporary vocal styles, throughout the Chicago and suburbs.
“Whenever there is a project that needs expertise in early music, they engage me,” Camacho said. “I help develop the repertoire and coach the singers.” He is working with the group’s musical director and harpsichordist Jason J. Moy, who Camacho said is “one of the most sought-after collaborators for historically informed performances in the Chicago area.”
Camacho said he’s happy to guide this performance because it’s a piece he loves so much and has always wanted to produce in the Chicago area.
“It’s a style of music in the French baroque era that we don’t hear a lot of in America,” he said. “You need instruments that are not easy-to-find and musicians who are trained in this style. You also need a dancing troupe because all the French operas include dance of some sort.”
The performance Feb. 19 will not include dancing, he said, but he is raising funds to perform the opera with choreography, costumes and a stage manager sometime in the fall in the Chicago region.
Since the production will be sung all in French, it will include projected subtitles in English overhead.
“They will be able to follow the drama and enjoy the piece’s humor – there is quite a bit of humor in it. The message is the most important part — how we need to support the arts, how we as the audience have to be the patrons so we can allow art to continue,” Camacho said.
What endears Camacho to the French baroque style of music is “its softness,” and that “It is so focused on the language. You have to be facile and your voice has to respond very quickly. You have to be so light and so graceful.”
Instrumentalists will perform on theorbo (a large lute), baroque flutes, harpsichord and string instruments from the French opera era.
The 45-minute opera includes characters that embody the arts, such as poetry, painting, music and architecture, who are disrupted by the character, Discord.
“Another character comes down from the heavens to battle Discord,” Camacho said.
The program will also include music of baroque English composer Henry Purcell, featuring soprano Mary Lutz Govertsen, “who is an amazing singer and actress,” he said. She and her husband, David Govertsen, a rising opera star, will also sing solos in “Les Arts Florissants.” David will sing the role of Discord and Mary will sing the role of Peace.
Sheryl DeVore is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
VOX 3 Collective: Early Music Series
When: 4 p.m., Feb. 19
Where: Byron Colby Barn, 1561 Jones Point Road, Grayslake
Tickets: $20 cash or check; ages 15 and younger free
Information: 847-543-1202; www.libertyprairie.org/earlymusic
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