Saint-Saëns: Phryné Orchestre de l'opéra de Rouen Normandie, Chœur du Concert Spirituel & Hervé Niquet

• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Phryné, Acte I, Introduction:
• 1 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Introduction 01:15
• Phryné, Acte I, Scène:
• 2 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 1: Récit et choeur. Le peuple athénien 03:48
• 3 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 2: Choeur et récit. C’est Phryné 03:58
• 4 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 3: Récit. Trouverai-je toujours 02:56
• 5 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 4: Récit et duo. Bonjour, mon cher oncle 04:46
• 6 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 5: Récit, arioso et choeur. Quelle destinée est la mienne 04:46
• 7 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 6: Récit et finale. Je suis las de la vie 02:52
• 8 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte I, Scène 7: Suite du final. Phryné, je vous rends grâce 09:33
• Phryné, Acte II, Introduction:
• 9 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Introduction 01:45
• Phryné, Acte II, Scène:
• 10 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 1: Duo. Nicias ! 04:08
• 11 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 2: Récit. Qui vient là ? 01:33
• 12 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 2: Suite, air et trio. Un soir, j’errais sur le rivage 04:50
• 13 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 3: Récit et ariette. J’aperçois Dicéphile 03:43
• 14 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 4: Récit et couplets. Voyons ! mon petit inventaire 02:02
• 15 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 5: Récit. Seigneur, est-ce bien moi 06:45
• 16 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 5: Suite, apparition et récit. C’est Phryné ! 04:21
• 17 Saint-Saëns: Phryné, Acte II, Scène 6: Choeur final. Salut et gloire 01:21
• Total Runtime 01:04:22

Info for Saint-Saëns: Phryné

To mark the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns, the Palazzetto Bru Zane offers a chance to discover one of his most performed and admired operas in his lifetime, presented here in a rare version. Completed in 1893 and premiered the same year at the Opéra-Comique, the piece amusingly recounts the love affair between Nicias and Phryné, who dupes the old archon Dicephilus in order to avenge his cruelty. Its witty melodies and delightful orchestration made the opera an immediate success in Paris and then throughout France. It was enriched with recitatives composed by André Messager in 1896 to promote its career in theatres abroad. Hervé Niquet’s dashing interpretation brings out to the full the qualities of the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie and the Chœur du Concert Spirituel, thus providing a sparkling backdrop for the virtuosic soprano voice of Florie Valiquette, the refined lyricism of the tenor Cyrille Dubois and the vocal authority of Thomas Dolié’s baritone.

Florie Valiquette, soprano (Phryné)
Cyrille Dubois, tenor (Nicias)
Thomas Dolie, baritone (Dicéphile)
Anais Constans, soprano (Lampito)
Francois Rougier, tenor (Cynalopex)
Partick Bolliere, baritone (Agoragine/Un Heraut)
Choeur du Concert Spirituel
Orchestre de l'Opera de Rouen Haute-Normandie
Herve Niquet, musical director

Hervé Niquet
pursued his musical studies with Marie-Cécile Morin, a former pupil of Marguerite Long and Maurice Ravel who was friend of Samson François. Due to this artistic imprint searching for the original intentions of the composer his painstaking musical activity developed complying strictly the original manuscript of the musical works.

Following his widespread education as a harpsichordist, organist, pianist, singer, composer, choir-master and conductor, Hervé Niquet collected essential experience as a vocal-coach at the Opéra National in Paris. Especially when working with choreographers like Rudolf Nureyev and Serge Lifar he evolved into an expert of musical sources off the beaten track of traditional interpretations.

In 1987 he founded Le Concert Spirituel intending to revive the great French motet. Le Concert Spirituel has meanwhile won recognition in the international music-world as one of the leading ensembles performing baroque music and focussing its repertory on different styles and genres from sacred music to symphony and opera. The ensemble thus also discovered and revived totally unknown works by French, English and Italian composers of that period.

Hervé Niquet meanwhile also conducts main international orchestras with the same wholeheartedness when playing the 19th and early 20th century repertory. He is convinced that French music remained unique throughout the centuries. As a musical pioneer Hervé joined the formation of the Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française in Venice 2009, a foundation he meanwhile managed to realise numerous projects with. He took part in numerous major re-discoveries, conducting Herculanum by Félicien David, Dimitri by Victorin Joncières, La légende des ours by Marie Jaëll and La Reine de Chypre by Fromental Halévy.

With passionate enthusiasm for opera Hervé Niquet frequently conducts stage-productions, either with Le Concert Spirituel or as a guest-conductor. He has worked with stage-directors of most diverse styles such as Mariame Clément, Georges Lavaudant, Gilles and Corinne Benizio (alias Shirley and Dino), Joachim Schlömer, Christoph Marthaler or Romeo Castellucci (Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in 2014 at the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie in Brussels) and Christian Schiaretti (Rameau’s Castor et Pollux 2014 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris).

When he was a musical director of the Vlaams Radio Choir and first guest-conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, he intensely involved bith ensembles in a recording-programme in co-operation with Palazzetto Bru Zane focussing on the recording of cantatas from the Prix de Rome. So far works by Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns, Gustave Charpentier, Max d’Ollone and Paul Dukas have been published as well as opera rarities by Victorin Joncières and Félicien David (Herculanum, awarded an Echo Klassik in 2016).

Furthermore his personal commitment concerning next generation educative initiatives in music (Académie d’Ambronay, Jeune Orchestre de l'Abbaye aux Dames, Schola Cantorum, CNSMD de Lyon, McGill University in Montreal) as well as master-classes and lectures are of greatest importancce for him. It is an essential part of his professional engagement to spread and to forward the results of his research and interpretation, the most updated discoveries of musicology and both reality and demands of a musician’s life.

In 2019 Hervé Niquet was awarded a honorary prize from the prestigious "Deutsche Schallplattenkritik".

Hervé Niquet is Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.

Booklet for Saint-Saëns: Phryné