Les Arts Florissants

Théotime Langlois de Swarte, violin

Pioneering a revival of Baroque repertoire long neglected, internationally renowned early music ensemble Les Arts Florissants takes the stage with one of today’s most sought-after young early music stars, violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte, to perform Vivaldi’s masterpiece, Four Seasons.

When published in 1725, no one imagined these works would become, perhaps, the most frequently heard music of all time. Prefacing them with foundational pieces by Geminiani and Monteverdi, the program frames these iconic works in a new light, inviting questions about the fleeting, cyclical nature of our existence; our relationship with the natural world; and the eternal renewal of Earth’s cycles. 

The Program

The opening Monteverdi brings us to a Venice prior to Vivaldi’s birth. The Madrigalesco concerto shows Vivaldi paying homage to the master, echoing Monteverdi’s bold harmonic approach, and thus providing a bridge between this earlier style and 18th-century virtuosity. 

Uccellini’s La Bergamasca plunges us into the improvisational practices of the Venetians, with a bass line familiar from today’s pop music.

Geminiani’s popular transcription of Corelli’s sonatas for chamber orchestra unites two geniuses of the baroque era. Corelli, whose groundbreaking Op. 5 (concluding with Follia and published in 1700), was an inspirational figure to the young Vivaldi. Geminani traveled widely and helped establish Italian repertoire throughout Europe. This Follia, published in 1729, was almost certainly influenced by the appearance of Vivaldi’s Op. 8 just four years prior.

Les Arts Florissants

An ensemble of singers and instrumentalists specialized in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments, Les Arts Florissants are renowned the world over. Founded in 1979 by the Franco-American harpsichordist and conductor William Christie and named for a short opera by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, the ensemble has played a pioneering role in the revival of a Baroque repertoire. Today, that repertoire is widely performed and admired — not only French music from the reign of Louis XIV, but also more generally European music of the 17th and 18th centuries. 

The ensemble is conducted by the British tenor Paul Agnew, who was appointed musical co-director in 2019. Each season Les Arts Florissants gives around 100 concerts and opera performances in France (at the Philharmonie de Paris, where it is artist-in-residence; Théâtre de Caen; Opéra Comique; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; and Château de Versailles, as well as at numerous festivals) and is an active ambassador for French culture abroad.

Since the 1987 production of Lully’s Atys at the Opéra Comique in Paris, which was triumphantly revived in May 2011, Les Arts Florissants has enjoyed its greatest successes on the opera stage, yet enjoys an equally high profile in the concert hall, as illustrated by its many acclaimed concert or semi-staged performances of operas and oratorios, its secular and sacred chamber-music programs, and its approach to large-scale works. 

Théotime Langlois de Swarte

Described as “mesmerizing” by The New Yorker, violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte is rapidly emerging as a much sought-after violin soloist (on both baroque and modern instruments), chamber musician, recitalist, and conductor.

Recognition has come in the form of major awards, including the 2022 Diapason D’or of the Year for his recording of Vivaldi, Locatelli, and Leclair concertos (harmonia mundi), and the 2022 Ambassador of the Year Award from the European Early Music Network (REMA), along with multiple additional recording awards.

In solo appearances on both baroque and modern violin, de Swarte regularly offers concertos by all of the baroque masters, along with those of Haydn and Mozart. He has appeared with Holland Baroque, Les Ombres, Le Consort, and Orchestre National de Lorraine. 

He studied at the Paris Conservatory under Michael Hentz and became a regular member of Les Arts Florissants at William Christie’s invitation in 2014, while still a student. He has since appeared as soloist with the ensemble and has also appeared in recital with Christie. 

A laureate of the Banque Populaire Foundation, de Swarte plays on a Jacob Stainer violin of 1665 loaned by the Jumpstart Foundation and an Allessandro Gagliano from 1700 on loan from the Zylber Association. 

This is the first performance at the Moss Arts Center for these artists.

This performance is supported in part by a gift from Erv Blythe.

Photos by Marco Borggreve and Julien Benhamou